A California-based hot chicken tender chain known for making customers sign a waiver before ordering its spiciest tenders is coming to Olathe, marking the brand's first-ever location in Kansas. Angry Chickz will open at 14995 W. 119th St., though no opening date has been set.
The Olathe restaurant will be Angry Chickz's first location in Kansas, and the chain still has no presence at all in Missouri, according to The Kansas City Star. The chain fries up Nashville-style hot chicken tenders for its bowls and sliders, and its menu spans sliders, tenders, bowls and sides. Classics come served with coleslaw, pickles and fries, and diners can also mix and match items or order tenders over buttery rice, per the same report.
Six Spice Levels, One Waiver
Angry Chickz separates itself from other hot chicken chains with six spice options: country, mild, medium, hot, x-hot and angry. That last one, called simply Angry, requires customers to sign a waiver before it hits their tray, the Star reports. Classics range from $10 to $14.49, while bowls run $14.49, sides cost $3.89, an extra chicken tender is $4.89 and an extra slider costs $6.69.
In a July Facebook post cited by the outlet, Angry Chickz suggested Olathe customers' palates were about to change once the new location arrives. The company did not immediately respond to the Star's request for comment on the Olathe opening.
From a Family Kitchen to a Growing Chain
Angry Chickz traces back to founder David Mkhitaryan, who launched the brand in 2018 after working as a cook in his father's family restaurant and developing his own spicy chicken tender recipe. The first location opened in Los Angeles' East Hollywood neighborhood, and the Star reports the chain has since grown to nearly 50 locations across six states — though other figures circulating put the systemwide count lower. Angry Chickz's own franchise site cited 30 locations systemwide as of mid-2025, after opening its first Elk Grove, California, store, per Angry Chickz's franchise site. A trade publication separately put the count at 33 units.
That same franchise announcement touted a 21.7% year-over-year jump in same-store sales traffic as of July 2025, alongside the opening of the brand's first Houston location that April and new Area Development Agreements signed in Illinois and Pennsylvania for multi-unit growth. The company's chief operating officer told Restaurant Business that chicken is a hot category right now, and that Nashville-style chicken specifically is having a moment as a sub-category. That outlet's report also noted Angry Chickz's expansion plans reach into Chicago, Indiana, Dallas and Pennsylvania, with a goal of surpassing 50 units by the end of the following year.
Big Ambitions, Bigger Rivals
The hot chicken category has no shortage of national muscle. Restaurant Business reported that Dave's Hot Chicken dwarfs Angry Chickz in scale, with 367 units compared with Angry Chickz's 33 at the time, and Dave's pulled in nearly $617 million in sales with 245 units by the end of 2024. Dave's already beat Angry Chickz to Kansas, opening its first Kansas franchise in Overland Park at 9097 Metcalf Ave. in August 2023, according to the Johnson County Post. That chain offers seven spice levels for its tenders and sliders, one more than Angry Chickz, and franchisee Spicy Bros. Chicken has since signed on to bring nine more Dave's locations to the greater Kansas City area.
Angry Chickz has continued chasing scale elsewhere in the meantime. The company announced a 25-unit development deal covering Texas and New Mexico, with hopes of opening at least four Texas locations in 2026 and five more the following year, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. A trade outlet reported the brand was preparing to cross the 50-unit milestone systemwide, with its first Texas location slated to open in Waco. The same coverage noted Angry Chickz posted more than 20% same-store sales growth at the midpoint of 2025, building on momentum the company hopes carries into Olathe once a date is finally set.
