Why Internet Star Jake Paul Is Using His Celebrity Status to Grow Dog Haus

With social media superstar and professional boxer Jake Paul in its corner, 60-unit hot dog and burger franchise Dog Haus is primed for growth. Paul is opening locations as a franchisee and putting his marketing prowess behind the California-based brand as it eyes nationwide expansion.

The new celebrity spokesperson for Dog Haus and the brand’s most famous franchisee sounded like he was promoting one of his prime-time boxing matches when asked to size up the restaurant competition.

“Yeah, we’re pretty small now compared to those others, but our chicken is better than Dave’s Hot Chicken and our burgers are way better than McDonald’s. Buffalo Wild Wings? Tastes like dog food compared to Dog Haus. We’re just so much better than them. It’s not even close,” Jake Paul said.

The tattoo-covered and cocky 28-year-old social media influencer, whose face shows the toll taken by 12 professional fights, gave an all-knowing grin before delivering his next round of jabs, hooks and body shots.

“It’s time to bring the attitude, the go-to-war shit talk, because people are going to find out how good we are. We just need to bring the energy to the brand now and get more people aware of us and who we are, and that’s what I do best,” said Paul from a spacious office overlooking his 12,000-square-foot, $20-million mansion in Dorado, Puerto Rico, a place its gregarious owner dubbed “The Taj MaPaul.”

“Social media is where it’s at now and there’s no one better at attracting and bringing the excitement than me.”

There is nothing understated or restrained about the new face and voice of Dog Haus. Paul, who earlier in his career took the nickname “The Problem Child,” is loud, proud and enormously successful. The influencer, boxer, rapper, dancer and former Disney Channel actor who amassed a huge following on Vine and then YouTube while in his teens has built a business empire that exceeds $200 million mainly on his ability to draw attention to himself and his personal brand.

The always entertaining and oftentimes controversial entrepreneur who is now boxing’s biggest draw is a master at creating online fun. He’s not afraid to stir things up with bold video rants laced with profanity and bravado.

To his credit, Paul attacks each of his business ventures like one of his boxing matches, with both fists flying and a single-minded fight plan to score a fast and decisive knockout win. He co-founded boxing brand agency Most Valuable Promotions with Nakisa Bidarian, a former Ultimate Fighting Championship chief financial officer, and the Anti Fund, a venture capital firm, with investor Geoffrey Woo. He is also the CEO of men’s personal care brand W, which sells in Walmarts throughout the country.

With a social media following of 32 million, including more than 20 million YouTube subscribers, there are few influencers who have a larger online audience and carry as much weight with the younger set. Although his online fan base mainly skews 8 to 18 and male, his newfound boxing success now makes him a household name for all age groups, particularly millennials and Gen Zers, which are prime targets for restaurant brands like Dog Haus.

Fueling the expansion effort

Paul’s latest business endeavor, Dog Haus, is his initiation into franchise ownership. His multi-layered partnership formalized with the brand last fall includes board involvement for him and Bidarian, his business partner and consultant. He is already making an impact on the 15-year-old company that has built a loyal following serving creative gourmet-styled hot dogs, sausages and burgers along with beer and an assortment of other fun food items.

Dog Haus had 60 units in 12 states at the end of February, but with Paul on board the company is poised to hit the gas pedal on growth. Paul acquired two corporate-owned restaurants, in Arlington and San Antonio, Texas, in November, and at press time was set to open two new locations in Houston and Dallas in March. He is partnering with Puerto Rican boxer and mixed martial artist Amanda Serrano on his first Puerto Rico location, which is slated to open this year.

On the spokesperson front, Paul is appearing in Dog Haus digital advertising and social media campaigns. He’s set a personal goal to eat El Gallo Wings, his favorite, at every store. He’s already made appearances at a number of stores in Texas, California and Washington, D.C.

“I could’ve picked a lot of other restaurants to do this with. I choose Dog Haus because I really love their food. I’m a huge fan of their burgers and wings. And I love the fun sports bar atmosphere they bring,” Paul said. “My fan base is made up of young and old sports fans, so this is great fit.”

Dog Haus CEO Michael Montagano said Paul has had a two-fold impact on the Pasadena, California-based restaurant chain as a catalyst for increased in-store traffic and customer trials.

Montagano said they’ve seen an 8 percent same-store sales bump and an increase in overall store traffic of more than 5 percent since Paul came on board. He noted the company saw an increase in its delivery business, which is a crucial component for a brand that generates 50 percent of its overall sales volume from off-premises channels, including third-party marketplace orders.

The average unit volume for Dog Haus Biergartens, which feature outdoor seating areas, was just under $2 million in 2024, according to Montagano, who joined the company in 2023 after leading ghost kitchen operator Kitchen United. He credited Paul for the strong year-end finish.

“The partnership with Jake was a game changer for us for sure. He’s a once-in-a-generation talent that understands something so innately about how to capture an online audience that he’s basically sitting on the top of the pyramid as the expert about it now,” said Montagano from his perch outside Paul’s 5,000-square-foot entertainment space with recording studio that overlooks a reflecting pool.

Bidarian, who was also on hand at Paul’s house, added: “Everything Jake and I do together is a passion and Dog Haus is our latest passion. Dog Haus was successful without us and our goal is to help turbocharge it going forward.”

The company said the arrangement is structured so that Paul earns equity and compensation as sales and the brand’s national footprint grow.

The timing of the partnership couldn’t have been better. Paul took over those corporate restaurants days before he fought Mike Tyson in the most streamed sporting event in history. Paul’s unanimous eight-round decision over the 58-year-old former world heavyweight champion reportedly attracted a worldwide Netflix audience of 108 million and netted Paul $40 million.

“It was just an electric atmosphere there with most of the fans in the building rooting for Tyson,” said Montagano, who had a second-row seat for the heavyweight bout that filled AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with more than 70,000 fight fans.

Montagano said he and his team had ambitious development plans for Dog Haus even before announcing the partnership with Paul. The company—founded by friends Hagop Giragossian, Quasim Riaz and André Vener in California in 2010—added 10 new stores in 2024 and plans to open 25 this year.

The original 25-unit development agreement Paul and Bidarian signed with Dog Haus in November called for them to acquire two corporate stores in Texas and then open 23 new builds in Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida. Those development plans have since expanded, said Montagano, with new stores planned for 16 additional trade areas including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Detroit and Paul’s hometown of Cleveland.

“There is just so much potential to grow beyond our 12-state footprint with Jake on our team,” said Montagano, who wined and dined many of Jersey Mike’s largest operators in February during that brand’s annual multi-unit operator retreat in the Bahamas. He said he was there to pitch them on signing 10-unit area development agreements in each of their established markets.

Details of those potential agreements were still being ironed out, but Montagano felt confident that a number of Jersey Mike’s franchisees were warming up to the idea of developing Dog Haus restaurants in their respective areas under an arrangement that they become equal equity partners with Paul on their first store openings.

Two of those multi-unit franchisees are in the midst of finalizing a 70-store deal to develop Dog Haus Biergartens across six major trade areas in the United States.

Montagano said that deal is evolving and is expected to be announced later this year. Attracting world-class franchisees with experience in other brands, he noted, is going to be key to the development strategy as Dog Haus works to reach 600 units.

A risky partnership?

Having a celebrity franchisee and spokesperson whose antics have run afoul of the law, who’s been sued for defamation and in 2021 faced sexual assault accusations comes with big risks for Dog Haus. (Paul has denied the assault allegations; no charges were ever filed.)

But when asked if he’s nervous having someone with Paul’s bad boy reputation being the official face and voice of the brand, Montagano denied any apprehension.

“I told him when he started this that I want Jake to be Jake because if he pretends to be anything else, this partnership won’t work. He’s created an amazing brand on his own and we don’t want to change that. He’s got full rein to be himself,” said Montagano, who accompanied Paul to scout a potential location for the brand’s first Puerto Rico restaurant in February, just a short drive from Paul’s home and gym in Dorado.

So far, the famous influencer has stayed on script for Dog Haus. He and his social media team have provided a series of fun promotional videos from his restaurants. With that he’s brought a greater awareness to a relatively small restaurant brand that’s poised to grow fast with its new superstar onboard.

Paul sounded like he understood his place and role with Dog Haus during a visit to the private gym he shares with brother Logan, a professional wrestler, and later at his home in Puerto Rico. He got particularly animated when recounting how he came up with his signature hot dipping sauce for the brand during a stopover at the Dog Haus corporate office in Southern California earlier this year.

El Gallo Sauce is a nod to Paul’s fighting name in the ring, “El Gallo de Dorado,” or “the fighting rooster of Dorado.” El Gallo Wings, the El Gallo Chicken Sandwich and El Gallo Tenders hold permanent places on the menu after they became some of Dog Haus’ most popular items.

“The goal is to make the brand as big as possible, and the best thing beyond opening up my restaurants is helping the brand with marketing and coming up with fun and entertaining content, which is my bread and butter,” Paul said. “I see so much potential. There are just a ton of cool things we can do around sporting events and other fun stuff like eating contests that you’re going to see unfold.”

Will Paul’s deft branding ability and outsized personality ultimately help translate online hype to real restaurant transactions for Dog Haus? His track record proves it’s probably best not to bet against him.

Rapid fire With Jake Paul

Favorite meal: Right now, the El Gallo Wings made by Dog Haus. I came up with the sauce and I just ate some.

Favorite snack food: PB&J. Peanut butter and jelly is a snack food, right?

Foods you won’t touch: Curry. No way. Not my thing.

Food you once hated but have since warmed up to: I would say sushi. I can eat that now.

Craziest food you ever ate: I once ate live worms and crabs. We did some crazy shit in Cleveland as kids.

What is a typical pre-fight meal: Peanut butter, chicken and rice. Those are my go-to foods.

Post-fight meal after beating Mike Tyson: For the past two fights it was Dog Haus. I’m serious. They brought it into the arena. The cheeseburger in the Hawaiian bun went down fast. Delicious.

Favorite celebrity chef: Guy Fieri

Celebrity chef you would love to box: That’s just bullying. I don’t have a beef with any chef.

Other than Dog Haus, favorite quick-service restaurant: The only fast food I really like is Chick-fil-A or Taco Bell. Either one.

Jake Paul Says It All

"Boxing is a metaphor for life. It’s a challenge. It’s a fight, and like the restaurant business, every day is something new. You have to learn on the job, change, adapt, overcome. Sometimes you’re tired, but you just got to breathe and keep going. You know, there’s different rounds, so you could have a bad day a bad round and then come back the next day and do better.”

"Of the first things I can remember is my peers in school and my teachers doubting me and not believing in me and actually, like, demeaning me and being terrible. That just built this, like, thick skin in me. But also I was like, I’m going prove all you motherfuckers wrong. And I think that’s important. You need enemies. You need those people if you really want to do big things in the world.”

"I’m having fun, that’s all. And sometimes I feel like I’m being driven by a darker force. But I’m also driven by a lighter force, which is love for friends and family and boxing. I feel like I got a greater purpose to help people. So, I’m really driven by both.”

Editor's note: The print version of this story in the April 2025 issue incorrectly stated that Jake Paul co-owns the energy drink company Prime with British YouTuber KSI (full name Olajide Olayinka Williams), the snack brand Lunchly and the clothing line Maverick. Those companies are co-owned by his brother, Logan Paul.