Dave's Hot Chicken CMO on building on organic growth as brand levels up

"Founded as a parking lot pop-up in 2017, Dave's Hot Chicken has quickly emerged as a disruptor in the fast-casual industry thanks to its take on Nashville-style hot chicken. Roark Capital, the private equity firm that controls Subway and Inspire Brands, last year took a majority stake in the brand with a deal reportedly worth about $1 billion. To better prepare the chain for its next stage of growth,"

"BRANDON RHOTEN: It's a brand that has an amazing social following. It's a brand that has established itself well as an outsider in the chicken space and it has a great reputation among customers. Yelp just voted it a most-loved brand, beating out Chick-fil-A, Raising Canes and the big guys. They're on good footing, but it's a brand with only a few hundred locations right now, so it's still in its infancy."

Dave's Hot Chicken launched as a parking lot pop-up in 2017 and became known for Nashville-style hot chicken. Roark Capital acquired a majority stake in the brand in a deal valued at about $1 billion. Brandon Rhoten was appointed CMO with responsibility for brand marketing, creative strategy, digital and social engagement, and media. Rhoten previously served as CMO of GroundTruth, was global CMO for Potbelly, and led creative and social strategy at Wendy's. The brand enjoys strong social followings and customer reputation but remains in early-stage expansion with limited national marketing scale, prompting an audit of past marketing correlations to traffic growth.

Read at Marketing Dive