---
title: "Dave’s Hot Chicken Makes Its Entrance into Washington"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/630fed66-ee66-4419-8639-19fea58e594d
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20220824_daves_hot_chicken_makes_its_entrance_into_washington.html
category: "Chicken"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Chicken"
published: 2022-08-24T12:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:10:12.547Z
image: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1561758033-d89a9ad46330?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop
---

# Dave’s Hot Chicken Makes Its Entrance into Washington

**TL;DR:** Dave's Hot Chicken enters the Washington market with a franchise agreement to open 10 locations, led by a father-daughter team with multi-unit restaurant experience. The team, Ajay and Sana, have experience operating Denny's and Papa John's locations.

*originally published in Franchising.com on 2022-08-24. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20220824_daves_hot_chicken_makes_its_entrance_into_washington.html).*

## Story

“It was important that we make our entrance into Washington with franchisees who are familiar with the market and have the right multi-unit operating experience,” said Bill Phelps, CEO of Dave’s Hot Chicken. “Ajay and Sana fit that mold perfectly and are exactly who we want to help introduce Dave’s Hot Chicken to a new state.”

The father daughter team bring with them a wealth of multi-unit restaurant operations with them to Dave’s Hot Chicken. They are one of the largest Denny’s operators in the world, with 36 locations open or in development throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Hawaii and Alaska, while also operating over 16 Papa John’s stores throughout Washington and California.

Founded by Arman Oganesyan, classically-trained chef Dave Kopushyan and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan in early 2017, Dave’s Hot Chicken initially opened as a parking lot pop-up, with lines quickly wrapping around the block.

Specializing in hot chicken tenders and sliders, with spice levels ranging from “No Spice” to “Reaper,” each restaurant also serves sides of house-made Kale Slaw, creamy Mac & Cheese and crispy Fries or Cheese Fries.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- unit expansion (topic)
- franchise agreement (topic)
- Papa Johns (company)
- Denny's (company)
- Dave's Hot Chicken (company)
- market entry (topic)
- washington (location)
- Bill Phelps (person)
- Dave Kopushyan (person)
- Arman Oganesyan (person)

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Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20220824_daves_hot_chicken_makes_its_entrance_into_washington.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/630fed66-ee66-4419-8639-19fea58e594d).