Dave's Hot Chicken
The total investment to open a Dave's Hot Chicken franchise ranges from $40,000 to $1.9M. The initial franchise fee is $40,000. Ongoing royalties are 6% plus a 4% advertising fee.
What is the Dave's Hot Chicken franchise?
Dave's Hot Chicken is a restaurant where customers can order hot chicken and other food. The estimated total initial investment ranges from $40,000 to $1,853,400, and the initial franchise fee matches the low end of that range.
The royalty is 6 percent of sales, and the advertising or brand fund fee is 4 percent. The franchise agreement term is 10 years.
The company is headquartered in MT and began franchising in 2025. Cost and fee figures are from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document.
Loan Activity Score
66/100
SBA Default Rate
0.0%
Active Lenders
6
Franchisees account for 221 of Dave's Hot Chicken's 244 locations. Public SBA loan records show 6 lenders made 7 loans to franchisees of Dave's Hot Chicken. PeerSense calculates Dave's Hot Chicken's score as 66 out of 100, using public SBA loan performance and recent lending activity. Cost figures are based on the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document.
244 locations
$40,000 to $1.9M
$40,000
244
221 franchised
Proprietary PeerSense metric
StrongDistinct lenders in public SBA records for Dave's Hot Chicken
7
Total SBA loans
$1.0M
Average loan size
Source: public SBA 7(a) and 504 loan records through December 31, 2025
Referral fee at closing
SBA Lending Activity for Dave's Hot Chicken
Loan Activity Score Breakdown
Emerging (3 to 9 loans)
Are lenders increasingly or decreasingly funding this brand? Growing trends score highest.
Blended default rate (recent + all time) compared to NAICS sector peers.
Quality lenders actively backing this brand, with penalty for lender pullback.
FDD availability, Item 19 disclosure, and overall data completeness.
Geographic spread of SBA funded locations across states.
SBA Lending Performance
SBA Default Rate
0.0%
vs 10.3% peer avg
SBA Loans
7
Total Volume
$7.2M
Active Lenders
6
1 selective
States
5
vs. SBA Sector Average
SBA loan default rate vs. all franchises in the same NAICS sector, not limited to direct competitors
Key Highlights
Franchise Financing Resources
Data Insights
Key performance metrics for Dave's Hot Chicken based on SBA lending data
SBA Default Rate
0.0%
10.3% below peer avg
SBA Loan Volume
7 loans
Across 6 lenders
Lender Diversity
6 lenders
Avg 1.2 loans per lender
Investment Tier
Premium investment
$40,000 to $1,853,400 total
Dave's Hot Chicken: Deep SBA Data
Brand specific metrics derived directly from SBA 7(a) approval records: peak lending year, leading state, average loan size, and lender concentration. PeerSense computes these per brand so capital advisors and prospective franchisees can benchmark this opportunity against the rest of the franchise universe.
Peak SBA Year
2024
3 approvals. The best year on record for Dave's Hot Chicken.
Top SBA State
Texas
2 SBA financed Dave's Hot Chicken locations, the densest operator footprint.
Average Loan Size
$1.0M
Median $1.1M. Use as a sizing anchor when modeling your own Dave's Hot Chicken unit.
Lender Concentration
57.1%
Concentrated
Share of Dave's Hot Chicken approvals captured by the top 3 SBA lenders.
Dave's Hot Chicken's SBA lending pipeline peaked in 2024 (3 approvals). The last five fiscal years account for 100% of cumulative volume ($7.2M approved). Operator density is highest in Texas with 2 SBA financed locations. Average funded ticket sits at $1.0M, with the median at $1.1M. Lender mix is concentrated: the top three SBA lenders account for 57.1% of approvals. Credit decisions concentrate with a small group of incumbents.
Payment Estimator
Estimated Monthly Payment
$414
Principal & Interest only
Indicative only, as of October 1, 2026. Not a quote, commitment or offer of credit. Final pricing, leverage and terms are determined by the lender at underwriting, after full transaction materials are reviewed. PeerSense sources the file. The lender sets pricing. What these terms mean.
Locations
Dave's Hot Chicken, unit breakdown
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Page Review
Reviewed by Edward L. Freeman, Founder and Managing Director, PeerSense
- PeerSense is a capital advisory firm that places commercial financing with direct capital sources; it does not lend, fund, or approve loans, and the capital source sets final terms.
- Edward L. Freeman founded PeerSense in January 2020.
- He is a Registered Franchise Consultant with Business Alliance, Inc., a credential issued in March 2022, and worked as a franchise consultant there from March 2022 to May 2023.
- His recorded experience includes a $22 million SBA construction loan, with about $16 million funded on the deal.
- In the 12 months through September 30, 2026, PeerSense tracked 912 publicly announced financings with a disclosed size of $361.32 billion. PeerSense Capital Data Report · Methodology page
Last reviewed LinkedIn profileAbout Edward Freeman