The chicken category has gotten awfully crowded as consumers continue to clamor for the protein. Sales at chicken chains grew 5.3% in 2025 according to Technomic, which far outpaced the overall industry at 3%.
But chicken also showed signs of significant deceleration. In 2024, category chain sales grew 9.1%, for instance, which was its first year of single-digit growth after five straight years of double-digit growth, including 2023, when the category was up more than 12%.
Angry Chickz apparently didn’t get the memo about slowing down, however. The California-based concept registered nearly 50% sales growth year-over-year in 2025, finishing with about $83 million. Its footprint jumped by 21.4% to end the year with 34 locations. There are now about 45 restaurants in the system in five states and, fueled by well over $2.7 million in average unit volumes, even bigger plans ahead.
During a recent interview, John Scott, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said the company expects to end the year with about 50 locations and deals are signed for about 25 more. There are also additional company-owned locations on the horizon. Indeed, Angry Chickz’s growth potential is what motivated him to join the team about three years ago.
“It was a ground-up situation where we were able to put in our systems, processes, infrastructure,” he said. “We knew if we had the right people and processes in place, we could grow the way we’re starting to grow now.”
In 2017, Angry Chickz was founded by David Mkhitaryan, who wanted to create his own version of Nashville Hot Chicken alongside memorable customer service. He brought on Peter Tremblay as president in 2023, who had a laundry list of experience from Panera to Jack in the Box to Starbucks. That same year, Scott joined the company, bringing experience from Yoshinoya America, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Pieology Pizza, and BJ’s Restaurants. Mike LaRue also joined in 2023, from Jinya, charged with launching a new franchising program. A year later, Tonya McCoy was brought on board to lead marketing after cutting her teeth at Subway and on the agency side.
The company opened its first franchised location in 2024 with focus on bringing in multi-brand operators who are “like minded.”
“You can get into big problems if you’re just trying to grow through franchising. You’re going to end up with some people that aren’t really bought into the way you do business and that’s one of the big criteria for us,” Scott said. “We meet people, vet everybody, and if when we talk to them it’s not a good fit, we pass on them. It’s about growing the right way and with the right people.”
Scott defines “the right way” as being able to replicate unit economics to new sites. The company just expanded to Pennsylvania and Illinois, for instance, and has targets in Chicago and Texas. The “right people” are those willing to be in the restaurants working and hiring the right team members to execute on Mkhitaryan’s vision of having the best customer service.
As Angry Chickz plants its flags in not only new markets, but markets far from its home base in California, Scott said the company’s strategy is to dial up local marketing — partnering with schools, churches, and businesses, for example, or bringing in high school bands or cheer teams to quickly build brand awareness.
“Bringing the local flavor to restaurants is really important. We have local murals and every restaurant design is different,” he said. “We have to build brand awareness and showcase our differentiating factors.”
Scott admits such marketing efforts are critical as the chicken category, and in particularly Nashville Hot chicken, continues to grow. For its part, Angry Chickz’s menu features six spice levels, from country to angry (in which customers must sign a waiver). There are also sliders, bowls, tenders, and sides like mac and cheese, fries, rice, and coleslaw.
“We feel like we're meeting our guests wherever they need to be, whether that's from a flavor profile, from an ordering profile, from however they want to experience us, that’s where we want to meet them. We feel like that really differentiates us from some of our other competitors,” he said.
The company is also selective about its real estate choices as it enters new markets, as well as the demographic makeup of those markets.
“We really like a captive area. We really want to be close to families with kids and schools,” he said.
That may come as a bit of a surprise for a concept that includes a waiver for its spiciest product, but Scott said the Angry Mac Bowl (French fries topped with two tenders and mac and cheese) is its biggest seller. He also said Angry Chickz is a major value player, which has helped attract families on a budget.
“We won’t ever skimp on the size of the tender or the scoops,” he said. “It’s about minimizing cost and maximizing guest experience. We have a great supply chain team and have been able to hold our margins pretty steady. We want to make sure people are getting their money’s worth.”
That is the brand’s final differentiator — protecting margins and prioritizing unit economics to ensure continued, somewhat aggressive, growth. Scott believes Angry Chickz will reach the 100-unit milestone sooner than later.
“I want our vendors to treat us like we’re at 100. That’s where we’re going to be, so get on board and let’s make it happen,” he said. “With all the macro things going on, we’re comfortable with where we are and where we’re going.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at Alicia.Kelso@informa.com
Follow her on TikTok: @aliciakelso
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.