$900 Parking Lot Pop-Up Sells For Nearly $1B Just 8 Years Later

LOS ANGELES, CA — Dave's Hot Chicken — a business that was started for less than $1,000 by four friends as a 2017 pop-up in a Los Angeles parking lot — was recently sold for nearly $1 billion.

Private equity firm Roark Capital bought a majority stake in Dave's Hot Chicken — which is now a franchise business with more than 300 locations in several countries — in a deal worth "pretty close" to $1 billion, Dave's CEO Bill Phelps said on CNBC earlier this week.

In 2017, the restaurant's founders — Dave Kopushyan (a Thomas Keller restaurant-trained chef), Arman Oganesyan, plus brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan — scraped together $900, bought a fryer and set up shop in an East Hollywood parking lot. The longtime friends were intent on perfecting spicy, juicy chicken, topped with Chef Dave’s spice mix.

"It's insane what we did," Phelps said on CNBC "The vision of these guys was just great. Arman Oganesyan was the founder. A high school dropout, but a marketing genius, and he created all of this in his head."

Oganesyan created buzz on Instagram. Two nights later, after Eater/LA showed up to check out the fuss, a morning headline read "East Hollywood's Late Night Chicken Stand Might Blow Your Mind." And lines stretched around the block, the company said.

A year later, the foursome opened a brick-and-mortar shop in an area strip mall — decor courtesy of local street artists — and a cult following began.

The rest is history. Dave's was named the fastest growing restaurant chain in a 2022 study, and the company said from 2020 to 2021, sales skyrocketed 262%.

The restaurant still specializes in Nashville-style chicken tenders and sliders, with a sliding scale of seven "heat" options — from "no spice" to "reaper," which requires a signed waiver.