Dave’s Hot Chicken opened its 500th restaurant on October 8 in Phoenix, giving the nine-year-old chain a milestone that also shows how much of its system is new. The company says it has added approximately 100 restaurants since reaching 400 earlier in 2026.
The milestone restaurant is at 1819 N. 99th Ave. in Phoenix. The West Valley Regional Chamber listed a noon soft-opening and ribbon-cutting event on October 8 at that address, and Dave’s Phoenix locator now lists the restaurant alongside the chain’s other Phoenix unit on East Bell Road.
The bigger business story is the compression of the growth curve. Dave’s began in 2017 as a parking-lot pop-up in East Hollywood, built around a narrow menu of chicken tenders and sliders. It started franchising in 2019. The chain says it reached 400 restaurants earlier this year, opened a record eight units in one day in April and then added roughly 100 restaurants before the Phoenix milestone.
That means about one-fifth of the current restaurant base was added during the latest 100-unit stretch. The company did not provide a market-by-market breakdown of those openings or disclose system sales in the announcement, so the milestone is evidence of footprint growth, not by itself proof that every new market is performing at the same level.
Dave’s is also broadening where that footprint can operate. The company points to units in major U.S. metros and airports, plus expansion in Canada, the Middle East and Europe. Its London opening launched a 60-restaurant development agreement across the U.K. and Ireland, followed by an additional agreement with Azzurri Group covering 180 restaurants across 10 European countries.
The release contains two different figures for development rights sold: more than 1,592 in the main text and more than 1,020 in the company boilerplate. Braisepoint is not using either figure as a settled total until the company reconciles the discrepancy. The cleaner, directly verifiable marker is the 500th open restaurant.
For franchise operators, the next test is operating discipline. Adding 100 restaurants in roughly six months increases the burden on site selection, training, supply and field support. CEO Jim Bitticks framed the priority as consistent execution rather than growth for its own sake. That is the right benchmark for a chain moving from an emerging concept into a 500-unit system.
The Phoenix opening does not come with a verified consumer offer in the sources reviewed. The milestone matters because it changes the scale at which Dave’s must support franchisees and protect a highly concentrated menu—not because of a one-day giveaway.
