Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken, a fast-growing quick-service restaurant built around spicy chicken tenders, is set to enter the Southwest Florida market by mid-February with a Fort Myers location off Dani Drive.<\/p>\n
A Tampa-based franchisee owns the rights to the brand across Southwest Florida and will start with one store, said Ian Lieberman, who, along with his brother Adam, owns FTB Services. Tampa-based TWT Restaurant Design, Construction & Development Co. is building out the interior at 7925 Dani Drive, Unit 150, at the southern end of the building that also houses the region\u2019s first Chicken Salad Chick. Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken will be the first tenant on that building\u2019s south side.<\/p>\n
The chain has expanded rapidly, growing from about 20 locations a few years ago to roughly 380 this year. The Fort Myers restaurant is expected to employ 40 to 50 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Dave\u2019s comes to any market, it\u2019s really exciting,\u201d Lieberman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really fun vote of confidence. These stores are really busy. It\u2019s a real vibe. We try to make it a fun, lively atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to spend a lot of thoughtful time on the artwork for this store. We\u2019re really focused on the guest experience for this unit in particular. The first one in any area is always the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken, known for its signature tenders, sliders, and spice levels from mild to Reaper, will open its first Fort Myers location on Dani Drive.<\/p>\n
Dave’s Hot Chicken<\/p>\n
Operating partner Peter Ungerleider will oversee area locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sign for a certain number,\u201d Lieberman said. \u201cFor us, that number is somewhat of a moving target. We\u2019re going to build one and see what the reception\u2019s like, and then we\u2019ll do another one, closer to North Naples.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see what real estate presents itself. I\u2019d love to build three or four in Southwest Florida and 10 to 12 in Tampa Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southwest Florida\u2019s fast-casual chicken segment has grown quickly, with Huey Magoo\u2019s<\/a> opening earlier this year in Cape Coral, PDQ operating in south Fort Myers and Raising Cane\u2019s<\/a> planning an expansion there. Lieberman said Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken stands out for product quality. \u201cI feel very strongly we serve the best chicken tender in the market right now,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need sauce to flavor it. Most restaurants are serving different versions of the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n He said many concepts are emerging now because the region lacked variety for years. \u201cThe only real chicken concepts for a long time were Chick-Fil-A and KFC,\u201d he said. \u201cThere really weren\u2019t many options for a fast-casual segment for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n A \u201cComing Soon\u201d sign hangs in the window of the future Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken on Dani Drive in Fort Myers. The Tampa-based franchisee says the first store will guide plans for additional locations in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n David Dorsey<\/p>\n Lieberman added that broader cultural and culinary trends are shifting. \u201cAsian markets have been eating gobs of chicken for years,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at Korea or China or Japan, it\u2019s one of the safest products.\u201d He also noted the nationwide embrace of spice: \u201cAmerican folks are more open to different flavors and bolder flavors than they ever have. What\u2019s going to shock the customer is how crispy the chicken is on the outside and how juicy it is on the inside. You can be the judge.\u201d<\/p>\n The franchisee moved quickly on the Fort Myers site. \u201cDani Drive is really the jumping off point for our success in Southwest Florida,\u201d Lieberman said. \u201cFort Myers doesn\u2019t always get the newest stuff right away. But with the growth of the region, the population is getting younger. There are so many people who want the new concept.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really central. It\u2019s busy. It\u2019s where a lot of folks from the whole region go for various forms of retail, because you have a little bit of everything there. You\u2019ve got a Publix. You\u2019ve got a mix of entertainment with Top Golf. It\u2019s a good, central place for people to come up and get a little bit of everything that we want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken, a fast-growing quick-service restaurant built around spicy chicken tenders, is set to enter the Southwest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,22571],"class_list":["post-54842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-dave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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