January 17, 2024
Provided image/Dave's Hot Chicken
Dave's Hot Chicken, from Los Angeles, will open its first Philadelphia location in February.
There won't be any shortage of spicy fried chicken in Philadelphia when popular chain Dave's Hot Chicken plants its roots in the city in February. The new location is the first of three planned to open this year in the larger Philly area.
Dave's Hot Chicken, established in 2017 in Los Angeles with humble origins as a parking lot pop-up, set plans for its Philly expansion back in 2022. The first Philly location will be part of the Northeast Shopping Center at 9113 E. Roosevelt Blvd. Per the Philadelphia Business Journal, the space will be 2,995 square feet.
Since the initial restaurant's opening, Dave's Hot Chicken has expanded to over 30 states, Canada and the Middle East. The franchise has about 170 locations and hopes to open at least 90 more this year, with a goal of over 800 total locations in the next five years.
Additional Dave's restaurants will open in the Willow Grove neighborhood of Montgomery County this fall and in Cherry Hill in March. A total of eight restaurants are planned for Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties.
Popular menu options at Dave's Hot Chicken include chicken tenders, sliders, cheese fries and kale slaw, with spice options going from "Lite Mild" all the way to "Reaper." Once the Northeast Philly Dave's restaurant opens, it will join other fried chicken spots expanding throughout the city, including Asad's, Raising Cane's and Love & Honey.
All of the Philly-area Dave's restaurants will be owned by The Integritty Group, which owns several Qdoba, Checkers and The Green Turtle locations in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Delaware. TIG plans to open at least 30 more Qdoba locations in the Philly area within the next decade.
