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00:00Today on Forbes, the unlikely group getting rich off Dave's Hot Chicken's $1 billion deal.

00:08Bill Phelps, the 69-year-old CEO of Dave's Hot Chicken, who joined the Los Angeles-based

00:14Spicy Chicken chain in 2019 after leading Blaze Pizza and Wetzel's Pretzels, is sitting

00:20next to his second-in-command, Dave's president and COO, Jim Bittix, another Blaze alumnus,

00:25on one side of a large conference room table in Forbes' Jersey City office.

00:30On the other side of the table are two of Dave's four co-founders, 33-year-old Arman Oganessian

00:37and 34-year-old Dave Kapushian, who look like they're on their way to or from a big night out.

00:44Kapushian, a cook who is the brand's namesake, is coolly dressed in a white t-shirt and blue

00:48washed jeans covered in black stars.

00:51Oganessian, meanwhile, dons a bright pink and orange Versace silk shirt, matching pink

00:57sunglasses, and an Hermes belt with shorts, his arms and legs exposed to show intricate tattoos.

01:04Though both claim no mischief the night prior, the duo have plenty to celebrate.

01:09Their visit to Forbes is the last stop on a whirlwind two-day press tour following the

01:14June 2nd announcement that Dave's sold 70% of its business to Roark Capital, the private

01:20equity giant that owns Subway, Dunkin' and Buffalo Wild Wings, among other restaurant brands,

01:26at a $1 billion valuation. After the interview, they're hopping on a private jet from Teterboro

01:31Airport back to Los Angeles. Dave's was founded in 2017 by Oganessian, Kapushian, and brothers

01:39Tommy and Gary Rubenian. All four were children of Armenian immigrants who grew up together in East

01:44Hollywood, and they were all high school dropouts. They started the business as a pop-up in a parking

01:50lot near where they grew up. Their cayenne-coated Nashville-style chicken, which comes in six

01:56different spice levels, the hottest of which, the Reaper, requires buyers to sign a waiver,

02:01gained an immediate cult following.

02:02Continued social media hype around the brand, which says its brand organically generates millions

02:08of views a week on TikTok, along with a cadre of celebrity investors, including the rapper Drake,

02:14helped turn Dave's into a $620 million in 2024 system-wide sales business with over 300 global

02:21locations and a prime takeover target. The four co-founders, who were at one time so broke they

02:28say they struggled to pull together the $900 needed to launch the first Dave's pop-up, are now richer

02:34than they ever imagined. Each owned roughly 10% of the business prior to the sale and is selling

02:40around 80% of their stakes, amounting to around $80 million pre-tax. Oganessian says, quote,

02:47the money's in our accounts. He admits he googled whether Rourke could request the money back.

02:54It's quite a jump from the last time they cashed out. The founders previously sold

02:58half the business, Dave's had just one location at the time, for $2 million in 2018 to an investor

03:05group led by CEO Phelps and the Hollywood producer John Davis, a prominent food investor and son of

03:11billionaire oil and entertainment tycoon Marvin Davis. The pair had previously worked together

03:16on Wetzel's, which Phelps founded, and on Blaze Pizza. Davis says, quote, I fell in love with the boys.

03:23There was something about them. This is a $1 billion company. It was really Phelps and Davis who helped

03:30it grow so big so fast. And while the duo had worked on the other two restaurant concepts together,

03:36this one is the most successful concept to date in terms of the company's ultimate valuation.

03:41Phelps and Davis both made 250 times their initial investment. According to Davis, he and Phelps were the

03:48largest shareholders in the company at the time of the sale to Rourke with roughly equal stakes. Davis

03:54declined to share his ownership stake, but says he still kept some after the sale. Phelps, who also

04:00declined to reveal his ownership stake, says he sold off half of his shares and adds that he and the rest

04:05of his investment group voted to give away a chunk of their earnings to create a bonus pool for Dave's

04:10executives and employees, around 20 of whom will become millionaires. Bittix adds, quote, the average bonus

04:17for the support people all the way down to assistant restaurant manager level was about $100,000.

04:24For full coverage, check out Jemima McAvoy's piece on Forbes.com.

04:30This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

04:40Kieran Meadows

The Unlikely Group Getting Rich Off Dave’s Hot Chicken’s $1 Billion Deal

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Forbes Daily Briefing

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