It began in an East Hollywood parking zone: one small fryer, no permits, just a few warmth lamps and a tent continually battered by wind.
A trio of associates — all from L.A.’s Armenian group, and all highschool dropouts — scraped collectively $900 in 2017 as a result of they believed that their Nashville-style fried rooster stand was the longer term.
Now Dave’s Sizzling Rooster is price $1 billion.
This 12 months the fashionable specialist within the decades-old spicy fried rooster fashion that originated in Nashville turned one among L.A.’s most astounding small-business success tales. The chain at present operates about 320 storefronts, with 800 extra deliberate. Dave’s Sizzling Rooster has opened as many as 5 new places in a day. (“Oh, we’ve done that multiple times,” co-founder Arman Oganesyan mentioned casually.)
The spiced, craggly, neon-red rooster tenders and sandwiches can now be present in London and Dubai simply as simply as in Hollywood and Ladera Heights.
Dave’s Sizzling Rooster founders work the road of their parking zone pop-up in 2017.
(Dave’s Sizzling Rooster)
And people are actually helpful globetrotting rooster tenders. In June private-equity agency Roark Capital acquired the homespun chain, which started with a five-month renegade stint, valuing Dave’s at $1 billion.
“Ever since Dave’s started it changed my life, but this [deal] gives me a little bit of security,” Oganesyan mentioned. In keeping with Oganesyan, who declined to share the determine of his new web price, the payout was “a lot.”
“Let’s just say it’s starting to look like a phone number,” he mentioned of his checking account.
The 33-year-old entrepreneur, born in Armenia, moved to Los Angeles when he was 2 years previous and met one other Dave’s founder, Tommy Rubenyan, in kindergarten. In center college Dave Kopushyan turned one other quick pal, and finally the chef, co-founder and namesake of their firm.
Till 2017 the considered proudly owning a restaurant empire — not to mention a single restaurant — by no means crossed Oganesyan’s thoughts. However that 12 months the aspiring actor and standup comic seen Nashville scorching rooster beginning to development, primarily given the success of Chinatown’s Howlin’ Ray’s, a West Coast beacon of the dish.
The fried rooster is often coated in a mix of cayenne and paprika that singes the tongue. It was invented by Thornton Prince III, of Nashville’s Prince’s Sizzling Rooster. His descendant Kim Prince introduced her household’s legacy to L.A. in 2017 together with her Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw restaurant, Hotville Rooster, however closed it in 2022. She now serves her well-known Hotville fried rooster through Dulanville Meals Truck, which she runs in collaboration with restaurateur Gregory Dulan.
Prince’s sparked scorching rooster eating places all through the nation, but it surely reached a fever pitch in Los Angeles with Howlin’ Ray’s.
Oganesyan knew Kopushyan, a former Bouchon line prepare dinner, had the culinary expertise to check the waters, but it surely took a little bit convincing to get him on board. However after a style — and witnessing the recognition — Kopushyan needed to attempt to create a recipe of his personal.
“Arman brought me to Howlin’ Ray’s and it blew my mind,” Kopushyan beforehand informed The Occasions. “We saw the lines at Howlin’ Ray’s and we knew it was going to be a good business.”
Erica Yang (proper), who’s visiting from Chicago, experiences Dave’s Sizzling Rooster for the primary time together with her associates XiXi Yamg and Will Puetz.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
‘It’s not known as Dave’s Delicate Rooster’
When not working shifts at Echo Park vegetarian restaurant Elf Cafe, Kopushyan toiled in his residence kitchen with spice blends for 4 and a half months, obsessively tinkering with breading, seasoning and frying.
The three associates ate it every single day, tasting and discussing every batch in Kopushyan’s Hollywood residence. He wished to steer the pop-up in a cheffier path, incorporating their very own house-made bread and pickles, whereas Oganesyan wished one thing extra tailor-made to his personal “simple palate.” Ultimately they discovered compromise.
The recipes, nonetheless, stay secret.
They scraped collectively about $900: $315 Oganesyan had saved, $300 from Kopushyan’s most up-to-date Elf Cafe paycheck, and one other $300 from Rubenyan.
When the trio deemed their product prepared, Rubenyan’s mother and father noticed a chance: Throughout the road from their East Hollywood flower store sat a vacant lot. They knew the landlords, who gave the trio their blessing to make use of the area. The plan was easy: Pop up for roughly a 12 months, then spring for a meals truck and slowly develop the operation right into a bricks-and-mortar.
Issues moved at a a lot sooner tempo than any of them imagined.
Dave’s Sizzling Rooster debuted in Might 2017 working Monday to Saturday, informally, within the parking zone.
“If we got shut down, we got shut down, back to square one,” Oganesyan mentioned of the marketing strategy. Thankfully for them, it by no means occurred.
As phrase of mouth unfold curious clients lined up for meals that included two tenders with fries, slaw and slices of white bread, almost an identical to what the chain presents right now. Just a few weeks later the workforce added sandwiches.
Ultimately they’d broaden the spice-level choices from the easy alternative of delicate or scorching to right now’s seven choices starting from no spice to reaper. “We always tell people to get hot, because it’s not called Dave’s Mild Chicken,” Oganesyan mentioned.
The rooster — sourced from Wayne Farms — has been halal from day one, not on account of spiritual preferences however to high quality, a alternative that a number of members concerned mentioned contributed to the seamless growth into the United Arab Emirates.
The early days have been “hectic,” in keeping with its house owners, who mentioned they have been “working against the elements” with far too many purchasers than they have been ready for.
An early article from Eater LA multiplied the traces in a single day, with 60 to 90 visitors ready for at the least an hour. Instagram and TikTok fueled the demand, creating extra buzz and a flurry of parking-lot imitators throughout the town. Inside just a few months, the trio realized they’d must journey the hot-chicken wave and broaden sooner than deliberate.
Rubenyan’s brother, Gary, turned a companion, permitting them to launch their first restaurant, a nook area in a strip mall on Western Avenue. They invited their associates to scrawl spray-painted phrases and sketches throughout the partitions, an aesthetic now seen in Dave’s places around the globe.
A view of Dave’s Sizzling Rooster in London, a location that debuted in December 2024.
(Mark Dines / Dave’s Sizzling Rooster)
Flying the L.A. coop
Quickly after launching their first storefront, traders John Davis and Invoice Phelps entered the image.
Davis, a prolific film and TV producer, had his hand in quite a few fast-casual eating places. He’d helped incubate and develop companies resembling Blaze Pizza and Wetzel’s Pretzels together with his enterprise companion, Phelps.
In 2018 the Dave’s founders offered half of the corporate to Davis and Phelps, and tapped the latter as chief govt; the corporate launched the second Dave’s in 2019, rapidly adopted by a half-dozen extra. Franchises unfold into San Diego and Orange County, then Canada, throughout the U.S. and into the United Arab Emirates and London. Strains at openings nonetheless routinely wrap across the block, eight years into enterprise.
“I’ve been doing the restaurant industry since I was 15 years old — I’m 51 years old now, and I’ve never seen anything like Dave’s or the fandom around it,” mentioned Jim Bitticks, Dave’s president and chief working officer.
Bitticks joined Dave’s after the corporate’s fourth restaurant, and had labored with Phelps and Davis at Blaze Pizza. The businesses’ franchise and growth plans, he mentioned, are comparable: Roughly 99% of the eating places ought to be franchise-owned-and-operated, with just a few company-helmed eating places to workers coaching groups, which then assist open franchise places around the globe.
The 4 founders nonetheless personal and function seven places, together with the primary restaurant and three others in L.A., plus three in Las Vegas. They see themselves as a type of In-N-Out for Nashville scorching rooster — however with a globe-spanning attain.
The unique bricks-and-mortar location of Dave’s Sizzling Rooster in East Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Occasions)
Inside two years of Dave’s partnership with Phelps and Davis quite a few celebrities signed on as traders, together with Drake, Samuel L. Jackson and Maria Shriver.
“It was great, but I emphasized to everybody that celebrities are not going to make or break your brand,” Oganesyan mentioned. “If your food can’t stand on its own two feet, then it doesn’t matter if the pope endorses you, nobody’s gonna care.”
Prospects order on the Northridge location of Dave’s Sizzling Rooster in June.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
‘They’re going to promote out’
Then in 2025, a breaded-and-fried bombshell: Multi-billion-dollar personal fairness agency Roark Capital would purchase 70% of the chain’s enterprise, a deal valued at $1 billion.
The behemoth, Atlanta-based agency at present owns 5 dozen corporations, almost half of them food-based, together with Subway, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin’ Cinnabon and Jimmy John’s.
Its courtship with Dave’s was an extended one. Representatives attended the opening of the chain’s fifteenth storefront in 2021, and ever since, they stored in contact. In late 2024 the Dave’s founders determined to broaden into much more international locations and “nontraditional” areas resembling airports and meals courts.
After years of curiosity from Roark Capital they determined, in early 2025, to comply with a deal.
Bitticks mentioned {that a} stipulation of the acquisition was that every one executives hold 50% of their fairness, holding them engaged in the way forward for Dave’s Sizzling Rooster.
“None of us are leaving,” he mentioned.
“We have gotten people saying, ‘Oh, they sold, they’re going to sell out,’” Bittick mentioned. “We’re really focused on not allowing that to happen. Even though there was a sale and some of the equity changed hands, the whole point is that Roark Capital doesn’t want to screw it up, either.”
Ultimately, Oganesyan mentioned, he may like to start out a brand new firm. For now his focus is on Dave’s and the way far they’ll construct the model.
“I feel like the sky’s the limit right now,” he mentioned.
Prospects order a meal beneath the signature yellow rooster at Dave’s in Northridge.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
Practically every part — at the least to this point — has remained the identical on the firm. The identical administration workforce stays in place. Oganesyan will stay the branding officer, and Kopushyan the chief culinary officer.
The founders’ hope is that Roark Capital permits for a global growth with minimal intervention within the present chain of command. There’s additionally the rise in entry. With a community of world meals suppliers, the Dave’s workforce goals to safe higher vendor pricing and comparable scaling perks beneath the Roark umbrella — although the rooster’s sourcing will stay the identical.
In keeping with Dave’s house owners the meals won’t change, and if any new objects are added to the menu, they are going to be intently associated to the unique dishes. Oganesyan mentioned all staff can be retained.
“For the most part,” Oganesyan mentioned, “I think we’ll continue to run the company the way it is.”
After the acquisition, shareholders contributed roughly $60 million of their very own income to start out a bonus pool for Dave’s staff, together with some retailer managers whom they felt had helped the enterprise develop over time.
The rooster street forward
Earlier than Dave’s, Olivia Mendoza had by no means tasted Nashville-style scorching rooster. The closest she’d come, she mentioned, was Popeye’s — not very shut in any respect. However the spicy scorching rooster would change her life, turning her right into a first-time enterprise proprietor in lower than one 12 months with the corporate.
Together with Bitticks and three others, Mendoza owns and operates Dave’s places in Ontario, Fontana and Chino Hills, and a fourth is about to debut in Claremont this month, with extra deliberate for subsequent 12 months.
Rooster tenders on the unique location of Dave’s Sizzling Rooster.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Occasions)
Might the thrill over Nashville-style scorching rooster finally fizzle out?
“Obviously, there’s always things that come and go — a trend — and they die in a few years,” Mendoza mentioned. “But I feel like this is something that’s going to stay because it’s not just another brand. I think because of all it has behind it, and all the support that is there, that it will keep us going and growing as well.”
The corporate hopes to convey its neon-red rooster strips farther into the UAE, U.Okay. and Europe. However to Oganesyan, irrespective of the place Dave’s opens and the way far his scorching rooster empire spreads, Los Angeles will at all times be the chain’s residence base.
“We’re just so known out here,” he mentioned. “It’s our hometown. It’s like a home court advantage out here.”
