Dave’s Hot Chicken is the biggest halal success story of our times. From a simple pop-up stand in North Hollywood to a nationwide and soon, global franchise, there’s a good chance there’s a Dave’s near you (and far too many locations to add to the Map).

According to the Zabihah.com entry, Dave’s has been certified halal by Halal Transactions of Omaha. The chicken used by Dave’s is machine-slaughter, not zabiha hand-slaughtered, however.

The LA Times featured Dave’s in an article that explained why Dave’s uses halal chicken at all their locations nationwide:

Dave’s Hot Chicken has sold halal chicken tenders since it launched as a pop-up in an East Hollywood parking lot in 2017. According to co-founder Arman Oganesyan, religious practice didn’t motivate the decision — to the four Dave’s founders, the halal tenders were simply a better product.

“We realized that any brand of halal was much better: Chicken would come out of the box much more tender, much more juicy,” Oganesyan said. “We had a brining process, and we had to do a lot less of our brining process because the chicken was so easy to work with.”

LA Times, https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2022-05-10/ihop-ramadan-halal-specials-become-permanent

We reviewed Dave’s back in 2020 (North Hollywood location) and it’s become even more of a sensation since then!

It’s worth reading the original article at Eater LA about Dave’s that started the buzz around the chicken in the first place. For more on the backstory behind Dave’s, check out this article in The Franchise Times that interviews Oganesyan.

Also, I was privileged to attend the grand opening of the Northridge location in March, 2021, and got to meet Dave himself! Here are some selfies from the event: