Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the promotion of Jim Bitticks to CEO, which Dave's Hot Chicken announced January 5.
Industry powerhouse Dave’s Hot Chicken has more than 4 million followers on TikTok, but the company has never produced its own content. Instead, its feed is full of organic videos of customers trying Dave’s and showing off their orders.
From left, Dave’s Hot Chicken co-founder Arman Oganesyan, President Jim Bitticks and CEO Bill Phelps.
“When we saw all the user-generated content—there was so much of it. [Let’s] just post other people’s videos, it’s no pressure on us,” said Arman Oganesyan, a co-founder and chief brand officer at Dave’s. “It encourages other people to post videos like that, which gives us more content.”
Brands on TikTok can be “cringey,” which is why Oganesyan didn’t want to get involved with the platform. CEO Bill Phelps said the decision to abstain from TikTok made Oganesyan a “marketing genius.” As the brand opened more locations, employees heard from customers that they discovered the brand on their TikTok feeds, much to the executive team’s confusion.
“We go on TikTok and it’s all this user-generated content,” said Phelps, who stepped down from the CEO role January 5. Jim Bitticks, the former president and chief operating officer, is taking Phelps' place. “They would take videos of themselves trying the product and we became the No. 1 TikTok brand in the whole fast-casual industry and it was all user-generated stuff.”
Dave’s came in hot with its debut on the Fast & Serious list at No. 2. The company’s unit count skyrocketed in recent years, from 102 units in 2022 to 259 at the end of 2024, for a three-year growth rate of 153.9 percent. (Monumental growth continued as it ended 2025 with more than 360 units.) Sales followed suit, up 119.3 percent in the same period, from $290 million to $636 million.
The TikTok posters who try Dave’s hottest spice level, the Reaper, should probably order a signature milkshake on the side to combat the effects of the Carolina Reaper pepper seasoning. “They love to watch each other burn their mouths,” Bitticks said of TikTok users. “They’ll try the Reaper … and we get a ton of views.” (The heat level is so intense that customers need to sign a waiver before trying it, making the chicken a perfect challenge for an adventurous eater—or a spice novice hoping to go viral.)
Dave’s Hot Chicken is ranked No. 2 on the list, in part for its 153.9 percent unit growth rate over three years.
“People on TikTok have a sixth sense for what is organic and what’s contrived,” Phelps said. “If you do something that’s contrived, they don’t follow it, they don’t share it. If it’s organic, they totally follow it.”
When Oganesyan started the business with Dave Kopushyan, Tommy Rubenyan and Gary Rubenyan in 2017, they planned to eventually sell franchises. But without industry experience, the brand brought on franchise veterans Phelps and Bitticks, who both helped grow Blaze Pizza.
Related: Dave's Hot Chicken Chef Keeps Namesake Franchise True to Its Core
Franchisees need to be experienced multi-unit operators to qualify for a Dave’s agreement, Oganesyan said. “That’s something we would have never thought about when we were younger when it came to franchising. We just felt like anybody could be able to do it,” he said. Requiring prior franchise experience was “probably one of the best decisions we’ve made,” he added.
Dave’s has earned the right to be selective with its operators. Phelps said the company turns down about two-thirds of applicants. Franchisees are required to operate at least the same number of units in their other brands in the same market as they plan to with Dave’s. If someone owns two sandwich shops in Nashville, for instance, they’re not qualified to sign a five-unit agreement with Dave’s in Los Angeles.
“There were a few occasions when we compromised our position on all those things and it always comes back to bite you,” Phelps said.
Roark Capital beat out multiple private equity firms to acquire Dave’s last June in a deal valued at $1 billion. The founders and management team retained an ownership stake, and Phelps at the time said he kept 50 percent of his equity in the business because of his strong belief in the brand.
The executives at Dave’s said customer experience and reviews are one of the most important factors in the brand’s success. “What our guests say about their experience at Dave’s is sort of our north star—how we manage those franchisees, how we follow up on everything,” Bitticks said.
Google reviews need to average 4.5 stars or higher to be operating on par with expectations, he said. “Usually when brands grow, scores go down. As we’ve grown, our scores have gone up.”
Unit-level economics are also top of mind for Dave’s, Bitticks said. Without an impressive average unit volume—the brand doesn’t disclose average sales in Item 19 of its franchise disclosure document, but an analysis of systemwide sales and units yields a $2.45 million average—franchisees wouldn’t be interested in the company, he acknowledged.
“That’s ultimately why they’re here, right?” Bitticks said. “There might be a cool layout or a cool design, but ultimately if they’re not making a ton of money off of it, they’ll go open a bunch of Yogurtlands or something where they’re getting a better return.”