Who Owns Dave's Hot Chicken? Owners, Investors & the $1B Roark Deal

A rapper, a Jedi, an R&B legend, and a private-equity giant walk into a hot chicken chain. It sounds like the setup to a joke, but it's actually the cap table. People search "who owns Dave's Hot Chicken" expecting one name and get a red carpet — so let's sort out who actually owns it, who just invested, and who's only there for the tenders.

That's the ownership in one breath. Below: what Roark actually bought, the full celebrity investor roster and who's who, whether Drake really "owns" it, and if you'll ever be able to buy the stock. For the parking-lot origin story, that's a separate tale — I've got the full Dave's Hot Chicken story here.

Who owns Dave's Hot Chicken now?

As of 2026, Dave's Hot Chicken is majority-owned by Roark Capital, an Atlanta-based private-equity firm that specializes in franchised restaurant and consumer brands. Roark acquired its controlling stake in June 2025, in a deal widely reported at a valuation of about $1 billion. That's the single most important fact for the "who owns it" question: the controlling owner is an investment firm, not a celebrity and not a founder.

Roark is not a random buyer — it's one of the heavyweights of the restaurant world, with a portfolio that has included names like Subway, Inspire Brands (Arby's, Dunkin', Buffalo Wild Wings), and Culver's. Buying Dave's put the eight-year-old chain in serious company. Crucially, Roark took a majority stake rather than the whole thing outright: the founders' group and earlier investors retained equity, so the people who built it still have skin in the game — they just no longer hold the controlling share.

The founders and early owners

Before any private equity or celebrities, Dave's had four owners: chef Dave Kopushyan (the actual "Dave"), Arman Oganesyan, and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan — childhood friends who started it on about $900 in a Los Angeles parking lot in 2017. They still hold ownership stakes today.

The pivot from pop-up to chain came in 2019, when an investment group led by Bill Phelps (co-founder of Wetzel's Pretzels) and film producer John Davis came aboard and built the franchising machine — Phelps ran it as CEO for years. So the ownership stack, in order, is: founders → Phelps/Davis investment group → celebrity investors → Roark Capital (majority, 2025). The full origin — including why a vegetarian invented the recipe — is in the brand story.

The celebrity investors, one by one

Here's the part that sends people to Google. Over its growth years, Dave's attracted a genuinely star-studded group of minority investors. None of them run the company or control it — they bought in early and lent their names — but the roster is real:

• Drake — the rapper came in around 2021 and is the highest-profile backer; his involvement did more for Dave's brand awareness than any ad budget could.
• Samuel L. Jackson — reportedly a reluctant convert who invested after actually tasting the chicken. Yes, that Samuel L. Jackson.
• Usher — the one exception to "just an investor": Usher is also a franchise owner, operating locations in Georgia. So he owns stores, not just shares.
• Maria Shriver — journalist and author.
• Michael Strahan — former NFL star turned TV host.
• Tom Werner — the television producer and Boston Red Sox chairman.
• John Davis — the film producer (Predator, I, Robot), part of the original 2019 investment group.

The important nuance: these are passive minority stakes. Exact investment amounts and equity percentages have never been publicly disclosed, so anyone quoting you a precise figure is guessing. What's documented is who's on the list — and it's a charity-gala guest list attached to a fried chicken counter.

Does Drake own Dave's Hot Chicken?

Short answer: no — Drake is an investor, not the owner. This is the single most common misconception, and it's worth being precise about. Drake holds a minority stake he bought around 2021; he does not control the company, set the menu, or run operations. The controlling owner is Roark Capital, which bought its majority position in 2025.

So if the question is "is Drake involved with Dave's Hot Chicken," the answer is yes — as one of several celebrity backers. If the question is "does Drake own Dave's Hot Chicken," the answer is no, not in any controlling sense. Same goes for Samuel L. Jackson and the rest: real investors, real names on the list, but not the people who own or run the chain.

Is Dave's Hot Chicken publicly traded? (Can you buy the stock?)

No. Dave's Hot Chicken is privately held, so there is no stock ticker and you can't buy shares on the market today. It's owned by Roark Capital and the retained founder/investor group, all privately.

That said, leadership has publicly floated a potential IPO within roughly three to five years — meaning Dave's could go public before the decade is out. It's a stated ambition, not a confirmed plan, but the trajectory supports it: domestic sales hit roughly $617 million in 2024 (up about 57% year over year), and the company has sold the rights to well over 1,500 future franchise locations. If it does list, that's when a regular investor could finally own a literal slice — until then, the closest you'll get is owning the meal.

Who runs Dave's Hot Chicken?

Ownership and management aren't the same thing. Roark owns the controlling stake, but the person running the company is CEO Jim Bitticks, who stepped into the role in early 2026, taking over from Bill Phelps. The company is headquartered in Pasadena, California, and the founders' leadership group stayed involved through the Roark transition — so day-to-day, the chicken, the seven spice levels, and the recipe didn't change hands to a lab. Smart buyers don't break what's working.

Dave's Hot Chicken ownership timeline

My honest take

The celebrity roster is the fun headline, but the real ownership story is the boring, impressive one: a $900 parking-lot stand became a business a $1-billion private-equity firm wanted to control in eight years. Drake and Samuel L. Jackson are the sizzle; Roark Capital is the steak — or, appropriately, the tender.

So the next time someone tells you "Drake owns Dave's Hot Chicken," you can correct them with the confidence of a person who reads cap tables for fun: Drake invested, Roark owns, Bitticks runs, and the founders still have a stake. Now that you know who's behind the counter, the only decision left is your heat level — read the what-to-order guide and order one notch below your ego.