Usher’s Dave’s Hot Chicken opens in Georgia, attracts crowds
CONYERS – Atlanta R&B legend Usher opened his first Dave’s Hot Chicken in Georgia on Thursday to a fanfare of music, lines wrapped around the block and a drone show that lit up the sky and stopped traffic. A woman leaned out of her car as Arman Oganesyan, one of Dave’s co-founders, walked by to ask him what was happening in the packed lot of the restaurant located at 1447 Hwy 138 SE.
Just moments before, a choreographed dance of drones had arranged itself into a billboard in the sky that declared the first of nine planned locations was, “Now open in Conyers.”
“This is absolutely, unreal. The amount of love and energy was way beyond anything we could have expected. It is crazy,” Oganesyan said. “I’ve got to pinch myself often just to make sure I’m not dreaming.”
With just $900 and a dream, Oganeysan and his three childhood friends Dave Kopushyan, Tommy Rubenyan and Gary Rubenyan began selling Nashville-style hot chicken and fries from a tent in East Hollywood in 2017. Seven years and over 200 locations across the U.S. later, they’ve now expanded to Georgia with the investment of Atlanta superstar Usher.
“Our franchisee that was interested in Atlanta really wanted Usher to be a part of this knowing how big he was here, so we had our team reach out to him. He was a fan of the food, and we talked and worked out the right plan to bring it here.”
The fast-casual concept is known for its hot chicken sliders and tenders that are served with sides of seasoned french fries, mac & cheese, house-made kale slaw and Dave’s sauce. The menu also includes shakes with flavors from Oreo to cinnamon toast crunch and loaded M&Ms. The interior of the restaurant is designed with an outer space theme that, though not exclusive to the Conyers location, seems to pay homage to the blended word ATLiens, made popular by hip-hop duo OutKast.
“We pushed it a little extra. So we normally do it anyway, but we made it a little special for you [Atlanta].
“Even though it’s such a cool visual brand, it’s very food-focused and we’re very passionate about the food. We just want people to love and enjoy the food and that’s the most important thing to us.”
