Last year Dave’s Hot Chicken was named America’s fastest growing restaurant brand, and now they are on their way to Cherry Hill NJ, with “Coming Soon” signage covering the windows of their upcoming location.
News of the planned Cherry Hill location was actually announced back in September, with the Ellisburg Shopping Center as the known location. (Whole Foods and the recently reopened buy buy Baby are two key tenants)
And I’ll be honest, I don’t recall what I had going on at the time, but I couldn’t jump on the story fast enough and in a day EVERYONE had it online.. so I sat back and waited for my moment. Which is now, ha.
For the September announcement it wasn’t 100% clear exactly which unit they would take over… but everyone assumed (correctly) that it would be the former Burger-Fi stand alone building. The fresh burger restaurant had opened in September 2022, and then closed unfortunately in just six short months.
The now empty building sits along the Kings Highway side of the shopping center property, next to honeygrow and close to the Big Event bowling center.
Well as stated, within the last few days the front full wall glass windows of the former burger restaurant were covered with Dave’s Hot Chicken logoed paper, as well as a larger brand signage.
Clearly this was done ahead of the start of the interior remodel of the restaurant space.
Previously the inside of the former burger place was completely gutted leaving just an empty shell, but the building is a solid foundation to quickly build out the new Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant, which also includes a sizeable outdoor dining area.
At this time I don’t have details on the opening date. In my visit today there was no one onsite. I could see some ladders and other demo debris inside, but it doesn’t appear yet that they’ve moved into full build-out mode.
Dave’s Hot Chicken
Dave’s Hot Chicken has a very simple yet delicious menu, which is based on fresh made chicken tenders, French fries, kale slaw, mac & cheese… and Dave’s signature sauce.
They do offer a sandwich slider variety which is really just the same chicken tenders but placed in a bun.
It’s a chicken business model very similar to Raising Cane’s… although they each have their own cooking methodologies, recipes and sauces.
Dave’s focuses on a “Nashville Hot Chicken” style recipe which uses a variety of seasonings to give the chicken a darker reddish hue. Dave’s offers seven levels of heat from no-spice up to Reaper. The Reaper is said to be so hot they make you sign a waiver form before you can eat it!
Dave’s Hot Chicken started in 2017 when four friends put in $900 total, to put together a tiny food stand in an East Hollywood CA parking lot. A portable fryer and a few picnic tables were the entire business in the beginning!
The “Dave” in the brand is a trained chef who set out to create the perfect hot chicken recipe, and he clearly achieved that.
With a simple menu they made sure the chicken was the star. They look for the finest chicken ingredients, and each piece is topped with Dave signature mix of spices ranging from no-spice to the Reaper
Their late-night parking lot eatery started gaining a following, boosted by their effective use of Instagram to increase awareness for new customers. (they now have 1 million followers on Instagram!)
Popular foodie blog Eater LA showed up not long after to see what the fuss was about, and with the headline saying “…Chicken Stand Might Blow Your Mind”, lines quickly stretched around the block!
A year later they had earned enough money to open an actual brick-n-mortar shop in a hip strip mall, which was decorated by local street artists. Even with increased capacity of the new restaurant location, customers at times still waited over an hour for their order.
Within two years of the start of their business (in a parking lot), they signed an agreement with an investment group which included former a Wetzel’s Pretzels CEO and movie producer John Davis. The goal was to franchise the restaurant concept.
They almost immediately added several Southern California locations, and have since opened 100+ locations in 11 states, Canada and Dubai!
Articles from last year said they have over 700 additional locations signed “in the pipeline” and it’s likely more than that today.
Another aspect fueling the fire of Dave’s Hot Chicken is it’s well known celebrity investors.
In 2021, hip hop star and actor Drake took notice and became a significant investor in the concept. Other celebrity investors include former California First Lady Maria Shriver, actor Samuel L. Jackson, and retired NFL player and Television celebrity Michael Strahan
Links and Locations
Dave’s Hot Chicken – Coming Soon
Ellisburg Shopping Center
22 Route 70
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034