Dave’s and Mike’s Didn’t Need Celebrity Backers to Sign Franchisees. But LeBron and Drake Added Some Spice to the Already-Flavorful Brands.

LeBron James invested in Mike Red's Tacos, which has four stores open and franchise commitments for about 400 more.

Celebrities should be the icing on top of a brand’s metaphorical cake—never the cake itself.

That’s the philosophy Bill Phelps has maintained in his career in a variety of restaurant brands, several of which have garnered some big-name investors.

“Celebrities cannot carry less-than-great brands,” said Phelps, the former CEO of Dave’s Hot Chicken and current chairman of Mike’s Red Tacos. Mike’s CEO Andrew Feghali joined Phelps in a panel on leveraging star power at the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference in Las Vegas today. “It’s up to us and our team and the operations people, the marketing people, the finance people to create that great brand.”

Take LeBron James, who invested in Blaze Pizza and, more recently, Mike’s. After Blaze announced James’ involvement, the franchise received 1,000 leads in a couple months from people who wanted to buy a franchise of their own.

James put his own capital behind Blaze and Mike’s, which Phelps said proves his commitment to and passion for each franchise.

Blaze, Dave’s and Mike’s have investments from celebrities such as musicians Drake and Usher and actor Samuel L. Jackson. Unlike many celebrity endorsements, these folks put in their own capital, rather than the brand paying them to promote it.

At the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference November 9, Andrew Feghali and Bill Phelps gave insight on leveraging celebrity talent in a panel moderated by Riley Lagesen of Greenberg Traurig.

“I think that’s what Arman [Oganesyan], one of the founders of Dave’s, did masterfully. He always said the brand has to be bigger than the celebrity affiliation with the brand, and they stay true to that,” Feghali said. “In restaurants, I think it’s been proven for the most part. Celebrity brands don’t work, but brands powered by the zeitgeist and celebrity influence and everything else … it really helps give them that boost, and I think that’s what happened with Dave’s.”

Feghali—the first and biggest Dave’s franchisee—and Phelps joined forces to create Four Wall Partners and invested in Mike’s, which at the start of this year had just two locations. Today it has four, with another 400 stores signed for. (Feghali said it might be time to slow down franchise sales.)

A lot of celebrities approach companies with the plan of getting paid a certain amount in exchange for a certain amount of exposure. Feghali said that’s not necessarily the right approach.

“If you believe in what we’re doing here, you can invest alongside us,” he said. “We have a brand we really believe in. We’re going to grow this one way or another.”

Drake didn’t post or talk a lot about the brand once his investment was announced, Phelps said. But that might’ve been what made it work.

“That cool factor that he brought to the brand was a really critical thing in the early development days,” Phelps said.

Those celebrity investors must’ve been onto something.

Roark Capital bought Dave’s last year at a $1 billion valuation. Phelps stepped down as CEO of Dave’s at the start of this year; Chief Operating Officer Jim Bitticks took over the role.

Sales last year grew by 57.2 percent, hitting the $1 billion mark. Today it has more than 420 locations.

Related: 2026 Fast & Serious Winners: No. 2 Dave’s Hot Chicken

Mike’s, with just four stores open, mapped out the country for about 1,000 units. The average development agreement is for about 20 stores. It’s taking the same approach to signing deals as Dave’s and Blaze did: Only established multi-brand franchisees can join the club.

But, of course, 6-foot-9-inch tall basketball legends are welcome, too.

The Restaurant Finance & Development Conference, put on by Franchise Times’ sibling publication Restaurant Finance Monitor, runs November 9-11 at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas.