Keyana Mohammadi, Head of Marketing for Dave’s Hot Chicken UK and Ireland, shared the strategy behind one of the most talked-about quick-service restaurant launches in recent UK history.
At our first Growth Collective event of 2026, we sat down with Keyana Mohammadi, Head of Marketing for Dave’s Hot Chicken UK and Ireland, to unpack how the brand made that leap. The result was one of the most honest conversations we have had about growth, strategic restraint and playing the long game.
If you want the full story, you can watch the 45-minute session below. If not, scroll down for some lessons that really matter for operators.
Inside Dave’s Hot Chicken’s playbook for QSR growth
Available to stream now
Dave’s Hot Chicken started small. In 2017, four founders in their 20s launched a pop-up in an East Hollywood parking lot. They had just $900 between them and a simple vision: Nashville-style hot chicken that actually delivered on flavour.
Queues formed within days. A glowing LA Eater review sent the brand viral. By 2018, the first permanent site opened. Fast forward to today, and Dave’s operates more than 400 locations globally, including its first UK opening in December 2024.
Rapid growth, yes. But not by accident.
According to Keyana, Dave’s growth came down to three clear choices:
A menu built for scale. Dave’s keeps things tight. Four core items, built around sliders and tenders, with customisation coming from heat levels rather than endless variations. That simplicity makes training easier and execution more consistent, without limiting guest choice.
The right franchise partners. Growth accelerated through carefully selected operators who could execute brand standards whilst scaling efficiently in their markets. “Dave’s is a franchise model, and as they’ve entered into new markets, they’ve chosen very strong operators to be able to execute the brand and uphold the brand standards,” Keyana noted. Growth did not come from opening everywhere. It came from opening well.
A community-first mindset. From the start, Dave’s invested heavily in social and culture. The product mattered, but so did building an online community that wanted to be part of the brand, not just buy from it.
For the UK launch on Shaftesbury Avenue, Dave’s did something that felt uncomfortable. It stayed quiet.
“As a marketeer, you feel like you’ve got to cover all bases, all touch points, be as loud as possible,” Keyana admitted. “But one thing I knew was the right thing to do was holding back.”
Instead of shouting across every channel, the team focused on a short burst of activity just three weeks before opening. Influencers, cultural moments and a carefully placed controversy did the heavy lifting.
The spark? Suggesting the Reaper heat level would not come to the UK because Brits could not handle it.
“At the time there was uproar, there was people literally messaging us on socials being like, how dare you,” Keyana recalled.
The reaction was instant. Comments, messages and outrage flooded in. When Dave’s revealed the Reaper would be available after all, the buzz exploded.
Opening day queues lasted three hours. They did not stop for three months.
The lesson is simple. If you trust your strategy, you do not need to say everything at once. Sometimes restraint creates more noise than volume ever could.
12 months on, Dave’s focus has shifted from generating awareness to building sustained frequency. “Now it’s how do we start talking the brand outside of the fact that it’s Nashville-style chicken that’s come over from America, and it’s building that brand story,” Keyana explained.
The long-term strategy centres on three areas:
New openings that feel rooted in local communities. Dave’s has expanded nationally to Manchester, Birmingham, Croydon, and Bristol, among other locations.
Brand collaborations that extend beyond food. “For us, a lot of people look to brands for more than what they’re just offering. So lifestyle is a big one for us,” Keyana noted.
Cultural relevance, particularly with Gen Z audiences. “Culture is a big, big thing for them and especially pop culture, so we want to be involved in that as much as possible.”
Dave’s launched its app and loyalty programme on day one. Not because it expected instant returns, but because it knew future growth would depend on data and repeat visits.
“We were so focused on that spike of hype, but actually the one thing that we did launch and we knew that we would need down the line is loyalty,” Keyana explained. “A year on, we’ve gathered a lot of information about our customers, what they want, and we’re looking at ways in which we can maximise our loyalty scheme.”
The app-first approach reflects Dave’s tech-savvy audience. “Our audience are very tech savvy and an app felt like it was the right thing to do to kind of stay in an innovative environment.”
Loyalty data has revealed surprising insights, particularly around product preferences. “Anything that feels more American definitely works for us, and that surprised me because I maybe had a little bit of arrogance when it came to British taste buds,” Keyana admitted. The Cinnamon Crunch Loaded Shake became a bestseller for exactly that reason. It feels different, indulgent and hard to find elsewhere.
When asked about advice for operators with smaller budgets, Keyana offered reassurance: “You don’t have to have big budgets. We don’t have massive budgets.”
Dave’s focused its spend where it knew its audience lived: social and influencer partnerships. It avoided spreading effort thinly across channels that would not move the needle.
Even high-risk campaigns, like the free slider day, were designed with a long view. App sign ups came first. Data followed. Retargeting comes next.
Growth is rarely about one campaign. It is about what you do with the momentum afterwards.
“Three months on from that campaign, I’m now at the point where I’m looking at that data because we want to understand, OK, these people, how do we target those people again to come back because they’re clearly Dave’s fans,” Keyana explained.
Operational excellence underpins Dave’s ability to open multiple locations rapidly whilst maintaining brand standards. “One thing that the US have brought is maintaining those strong standards and making sure that the brand has this level of consistency,” Kiana shared.
The simple menu plays a crucial role: “Just having a simple menu really helps operationally for the team that you’re training. When you’ve got a small menu, it allows them to really make sure that everything that they’re doing is to perfection.”
Digital tools, including Kiosks and flexible Menu Management, make it easier to test, adapt and improve without operational chaos. That combination allows the brand to move fast without losing what made it popular in the first place.
Competition in the UK hot chicken space is heating up. Dave’s response is not to chase rivals, but to stay anchored in its own DNA.
For 2026, the focus is clear. Build awareness in new markets. Build loyalty where the brand already has a foothold. And keep turning first visits into habits.
Hype opens the door. Consistency keeps people coming back.
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