Dave's hot chicken sold to Roark Capital...owner of SUBWAY, ARBYS, BW3, CULVER'S, DUNKIN, CARL'S JR, JIMMY JOHNS, CINNABON, MOE'S, SONIC & other trash

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

Dave's Hot Chicken sold to Subway owner Roark Capital in a $1 billion deal

Dave’s Hot Chicken said Monday it has been acquired by private equity firm Roark Capital in a deal valued at $1 billion.

apnews.com

Roark :: Current Investments

www.roarkcapital.com

Dave’s Hot Chicken said Monday it has been acquired by the private equity firm Roark Capital in a deal valued at $1 billion.

Dave’s Hot Chicken got its start in 2017 as a popup in a Los Angeles parking lot. It has grown exponentially since then and expects to end this year with 400 restaurants worldwide. The brand specializes in Nashville-style hot chicken.

Investors in Dave’s Hot Chicken have included the rapper Drake, who gives away hot chicken sliders every year on Oct. 24, his birthday.

Atlanta-based Roark specializes in franchised businesses. It bought the Subway sandwich chain in 2023 and backs two holding companies that own multiple restaurant chains: Inspire Brands, the parent of Arby’s, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, Sonic and Buffalo Wild Wings; and GoTo Foods, which owns Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon and Jamba.

Dave’s Hot Chicken said its leadership team — including CEO Bill Phelps and the four childhood friends who founded the company — will remain and continue to lead menu innovation, food quality, operations and marketing.


“Our entire organization is excited about the fit between Dave’s Hot Chicken and Roark, and we’re looking forward to continuing to blow our guests’ minds and unlocking growth and value for our franchise partners,” Phelps said in a statement.

From a food truck to a BILLION in 8 years

If you like Dave's Hot Chicken...think of how good some the restaurants in the thread title were. And how trash they are NOW.

 

[Ryze]

Lemme go start a food truck.

 

[kt773]

Culver’s not bad at all, my favorite cheat meal

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

Culver’s not bad at all, my favorite cheat meal

i've never been there tbh, just looking at how the quality of these chains each have slid to garbage is no coincidence. Is that usually at least 'good' quality?

 

[the cac mamba]

if the indians fukk it up like they did to Subway

 

[x-factor7]

Wonder how they’re gonna ruin it, Dave’s has a simple menu with a few items and they are all fire. No need to add anything extra

 

[CopiousX]

I think it's a bad move for their portfolio. If their goal was to scale in order to be competitive, then it was a great idea for them to buy Subway ,Jimmy John's, Arby's, Moe's, and Culver's. these are all sandwich places so they can use one supplier and negotiate prices. Even the sauces you would use on the various sandwiches are more or less the same with the exception of Arby's.


Now adding a fried chicken place to the mix is stupid. It doesn't mesh with their existing portfolio at all. Same could be said for dunkin' donuts

 

[JQ Legend]

I had no idea Jimmy Johns and Subway was owned by the same people

 

[BEN23]

yepp all trash food

 

[StatUS]

I still don't mind Dunkin coffee.

Cinnabon was GOATED in the 90s from the mall tho

 

[Batsute]

i've never been there tbh, just looking at how the quality of these chains each have slid to garbage is no coincidence. Is that usually at least 'good' quality?

It’s actually solid, like a lesser shake shack plus they make and sell their own ice cream.

 

[invalid]

not a fan of hot chicken and never ate at dave's. been to hattie b's and princes in nashville though. still not a fan.

they recently opened a dave's in a neighborhood a relative of mine stays in, checked out the menu, but passed.

 

[Ski Mask]

Man that's sucks hope the quality stays the same, cause Dave's is worth the hype.

 

[Hersh]

quality bout to go to shyt...

enshytification

 

[Wildin]

It’s actually solid, like a lesser shake shack plus they make and sell their own ice cream.

You mean custard.

Burgers are weak though. In fact their lineup is kind of wack. Their fish during lent doesn't hit. And it's more expensive that everyone else's.

If you have a dairy queen and a sonic nearby, hell even a Wendy's. No need for their "custard"

Sheridan's has better custard. But that's what they do.