Dave's Hot Chicken's 2017 parking-lot pop-up — $900, night-only, sold out nightly

In early 2017 comedian Arman Oganesyan, chef Dave Kopushyan and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan believed Los Angeles lacked great Nashville-style hot chicken. They had about $900, no restaurant experience and no permits, so a parking lot in East Hollywood's Thai Town became the venue.

A parking-lot pop-up as the whole brand: night-only hours, a dollar rubber-chicken mascot, and a product good enough that a sellout line does the marketing.

They bought a $90 fryer, set up folding tables in the lot, and opened only at night to avoid permits, inspectors and direct competition. A $1 rubber chicken from a swap meet served as the stand's landmark, and plastic screaming-chicken toys drew pedestrians. They tagged Eater LA's editor, who visited on day three and wrote it up; three-hour lines and nightly sellouts followed before a 55-seat restaurant opened on Western Avenue in January 2018.

The pop-up became LA's hottest street food: three-hour lines, hundreds of customers turned away nightly, and a wave of copycat hot-chicken stands across Southern California. The first brick-and-mortar did several million dollars in sales a year, and by late 2023 the chain had about 148 locations, a $1 billion valuation, and a $50 million employee bonus pool.

In early 2017 Arman Oganesyan, a stand-up comedian, and chef Dave Kopushyan, along with brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan, believed Los Angeles lacked great Nashville-style hot chicken. With $900 scraped together — a $90 fryer, folding tables and a portable fryer — they opened a pop-up in an East Hollywood parking lot in Thai Town, serving tenders, fries and kale slaw.

Night-only hours were a strategy, not a constraint: with no permits yet, the founders opened after dark to dodge health inspectors and direct competition. A $1 rubber chicken from a swap meet sat as the stand's landmark, and plastic screaming-chicken toys attracted pedestrians. They tagged Eater LA editor Farley Elliott on social media; he came on the third day of operations and wrote an article praising the chicken.

The review brought three-hour lines, nightly sellouts and hundreds of turned-away customers, plus catering for Hollywood clients. In January 2018 the pop-up moved into a 55-seat restaurant on Western Avenue with a graffiti-style interior, doing several million dollars in sales a year while dozens of copycat hot-chicken stands appeared across the city.

Scarcity was the strategy: night-only hours and nightly sellouts made the pop-up a destination people rushed to beat.

The rubber chicken gave the stand a landmark and a logo for free — universally recognized, uncopyrighted, bought for a dollar.

They courted one influential taster instead of advertising: a single Eater LA review did what a media budget could not.

The origin story scaled: 'a $900 parking-lot pop-up' stayed the brand's narrative as it franchised into a national chain.

A tiny budget forces the idea to carry the brand: night-only scarcity, a cheap mascot and a product people line up for beat ad spend — and the origin story kept selling the chain as it scaled.

Dave's Hot Chicken opened its first permanent restaurant in January 2018, entered a franchising agreement, and by late 2023 had about 148 locations in the US and abroad, with investors including Drake and Samuel L. Jackson. After the company reached a $1 billion valuation, the founders set aside a $50 million bonus pool from their own money for the employees who scaled the business. The rubber-chicken mascot, night-only origins and the 'parking-lot pop-up' story stayed at the center of the brand's identity as it grew.