Dave’s Hot Chicken coming to Bailey’s Crossroads

Dave’s Hot Chicken, a fast-casual franchise, is coming to the Crossroads Place shopping center in Bailey’s Crossroads, Levin Management Corp. announced last week.

The restaurant specializes in Nashville-style hot chicken tenders and sliders in seven spice levels ranging from “no spice” to “Reaper.”

Dave’s Hot Chicken also serves French fries, house-made kale slaw, mac and cheese, and milkshakes.

It will be located in a 2,300-square-foot space facing Leesburg Pike formerly occupied by an ABC store between the soon-to-open Charley’s Cheesesteaks and Wings and Starbucks.

The chain was started by Dave Kopushyan and three childhood friends. They opened a street food stand in a parking lot in Los Angeles with a portable fryer and a few picnic tables in 2017. They relocated to a storefront in a strip mall in late 2018.

Related story: New tenants coming to Crossroads Place

There are now more than 100 Dave’s Hot Chicken locations in the U.S., Canada, and the Middle East. The restaurants’ interiors feature colorful street art by local artists.

“Crossroads Place offers a great location in a high-demand market and proved to be an ideal fit for this popular chain’s continued growth,” said Melissa Webb, executive director of brokerage at Rappaport, the local representative for Levin Management. “Dave’s Hot Chicken diversifies the center’s dining options.”

Fast-casual restaurants continue to perform well, Webb said, and within that segment Dave’s Hot Chicken is a rapidly expanding brand.