Dave's Hot Chicken Taking Over Old Dover Friendly's

buildingdelmarva
Jun 6
2 min read

A newer west coast chicken eatery is entering the Delaware market with its' first location being in Dover. Dave's Hot Chicken is taking over the closed Friendly's, right on Route 13! They join a growing list of fast food chicken restaurants in Dover, such as Hangry Joes Hot Chicken & Wings, Chick-fil-A and Wing Stop.

Overlay of new Dave's Hot Chicken site across from Kohls and Olive Garden in Dover.

Work appears to be still moving forward when BuildingDelmarva.com visited the location, which is directly across from the Kohls and Olive Garden. The Friendly's has been closed since 2023. The Franchisee, TIG Corp, LLC, owns numerous QDOBA locations in the Philadelphia region, including the one in Dover. They are also developing many other Dave's Hot Chicken locations in greater Philadelphia, including at least two in New Castle County.

The old Friendly's in Dover is being remodeled into Dave's Hot Chicken.

The artist "Drake" took a major stake in the business in 2021 and the company has seen aggressive expansion since. Just last week, Roark Capital, the owners of Subway and Dunkin', bought Daves Hot Chicken for 1 Billion Dollars!

Dave's Hot Chicken is offered at seven various spice levels ranging from No Spice to "Reaper" (which the company says requires a signed waiver for) and each piece of chicken is spiced-to-order.

Other offerings include milkshakes, regular and loaded french fries, as well as side offerings that include mac and cheese, pickles, cheese fries and kale slaw. Another interesting offering will be their "Not Chicken" - cauliflower tenders and sliders.

Pricing appears to be on par or slightly higher with that of it's competitors, with 2 sliders and fries priced at $13.99. Their Cauli-Sliders (2) with fries is priced at $17.99. Their Lucky Charms top loaded shake (yes you heard that right!) is $6.99.