Move over, wings. It’s hot chicken’s moment in the spotlight.
While it seemed just about every restaurant chain started selling wings during the pandemic, the post-pandemic fixation appears to be on crispy-fried chicken doused in spicy-hot sauces.
Just follow the hot chicken money:
Since the end of last month, the industry has seen one-unit Dirty Bird Fried Chxx receive a $20 million majority investment from Wags Capital; Ike’s Love & Sandwiches made a strategic investment in three-unit Bangin’ Buns; and, garnering the biggest headlines, Canadian rapper Drake took a significant minority stake in Dave’s Hot Chicken.
Hot chicken is unquestionably hot right now.
“It’s a fun time to be in the hot chicken business,” said Katie Wollrich, chief marketing officer with 19-unit Joella’s Hot Chicken. “We’ve been around for six years now. It’s exciting to see more players in the market. We welcome any other brands to create more hot chicken fanatics out there.”
Hot chicken history
Hot chicken is not a new dish—far from it.
The lip-tinglingly fiery entree has been consumed and sold since at least the 1930s, with its roots in Nashville’s Black neighborhoods. In 1945, Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack opened there, started by a man named Thornton Prince.
Prince family lore has it that the restaurant’s founder cheated on his girlfriend. Once she found out, she served him fried chicken smothered in hot pepper. It was meant to be a punishment, but he liked it so much, he started cooking it for friends and eventually opened a Nashville restaurant that still serves hot chicken today and remains in the Prince family.
Today, most hot chicken chains rely on hot sauces of varying heat levels, rather than simply pepper, to impart their chicken with those craveable flavors.
Soaring popularity
But why hot chicken and why now?
Those in the segment say growth is driven by its appeal among a key demographic: Young millennials and Gen Z.
It’s easy to understand why. Hot chicken is essentially a grownup version of a comfort food many ate as kids. It’s customizable, with its varying heat levels. It’s highly craveable.
“Chicken is a feel-good food,” said Michael Goldberg, CEO of Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, which will be expanding the Bangin’ Buns hot chicken concept. “You add a little spice to it and it’s loved, especially by the demographics of 18 to 25. It’s just amazing to see the people coming in, hanging out, putting it on social media.”
Plus, there are the operational aspects to consider.
“The key thing is it’s a very simple menu,” said Bill Phelps, CEO of Dave’s Hot Chicken. “We look at lots of concepts where their menus get expanded and they don’t do anything really well. The vision here is very simple: To have the business based on one simple core product and we manage that and we do that really well.”
It’s also food that works for delivery.
“A burger doesn’t hold up real well 45 minutes after it’s made,” Phelps said. “This product, an hour after it’s made, is hot and juicy and spicy. It travels well.”
In fact, Grubhub reported 327% year-over-year growth in hot chicken orders for the first half of 2021.
All of the emerging hot chicken chains have ultra-tight menus consisting largely of fried chicken pieces, tenders, maybe sandwiches and a small selection of sides such as mac & cheese, fries and cole slaw.
The house-made sides, operators say, set hot chicken concepts apart and elevate them a bit from traditional quick-service chains.
Most are playful with their heat levels, offering a wide range of options from zero spice to, in the case of Joella’s Hot Chicken, Fire in the Hole extreme heat for which diners are required to sign a liability waiver before consuming.
“I liken it to the barbecue industry,” Wollrich said. “Guests enjoy being able to come in and experiment with the menu.”
At Joella’s, the most popular sauce is Ella’s Fave, which is recommended to customers who are just getting to know hot chicken.
“They can feel a little bit of heat, but it’s gone by the next bite,” she said. “The next most popular is Tweener. It packs more heat, but you’re not in pain.”
Expect to see many more hot chicken restaurants
Although hot chicken got started in Nashville, its recent epicenter of growth appears to be southern California.
That’s where the current leader, Dave’s Hot Chicken, got its start in 2017. The chain has since grown to 22 locations, with 25 more openings planned by the end of the year.
Phelps, a co-founder of Blaze Pizza and former CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels, said Dave’s intends to open a store a week for the rest of the year and a new restaurant every four days in 2022.
Joella’s Hot Chicken, which got its start in Louisville, Ky., took a growth pause during the pandemic but expects to get back to adding five to seven locations next year, Wollrich said. Unlike some of the emerging concepts, Joella’s also sells a meat-free patty that can be customized with the spicy sauces.
Next spring, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit plans to launch Trailer Birds—a virtual hot chicken concept that will also have a brick-and-mortar unit in Dallas.
“We found hot chicken is a perfect fit to utilize our seasoning expertise to create our take on a really hot product,” Dickey’s CEO Laura Rea Dickey said via email.
Plus, Dickey said, “Guests also want to eat out what is more difficult to prepare at home, and breading, spicing and frying hot chicken is most enjoyable when someone else prepares it.”