Dave's Hot Chicken is bringing its famously fiery tenders to Manatee County for the first time, with a new restaurant rising inside Bradenton's SeaFlower Village Center on Cortez Road West. The ground-up building will span 2,571 square feet with seating for 70 guests, backed by a $500,000 construction investment and targeted for completion in mid-to-late January 2027.
A $500,000 Build Inside a Booming Shopping Hub
The project, first detailed by reporter Madalyn Blair for the Tampa Bay Business Journal, places the chicken chain at Unit 106 of an outparcel building within the shopping center. That center, SeaFlower Village Center, is a 140,000-square-foot retail hub anchored by a 50,000-square-foot Publix grocery store, itself tucked inside the sprawling 1,175-acre SeaFlower master-planned community, according to SeaFlower's own development site.
The scale of that surrounding community suggests a built-in customer base for the new restaurant well before it opens its doors. Dave's Hot Chicken will join a wave of other newcomers along the same stretch of Cortez Road West, where Dutch Bros Coffee, Whataburger, Playa Bowls, and Potbelly Sandwich Works are also incoming, the Bradenton Herald reports, as the corridor undergoes a broader fast-casual dining boom.
Tampa-Based Franchisee Group Drives the Expansion
The Bradenton build is part of a larger multi-unit push across Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida led by FTB Services, a Tampa-based franchisee group co-owned by brothers Ian and Adam Lieberman. The company topped the Tampa Bay Business Journal's Fast 50 list after posting 466% three-year revenue growth, a run that has made it one of the region's most aggressive restaurant operators.
That kind of growth tracks with the brand's broader trajectory. Industry research firm Technomic previously named Dave's Hot Chicken America's Fastest-Growing Restaurant Chain after it posted 156% annual sales growth, helping it expand to more than 350 locations throughout the country and 24 Florida outposts by mid-2026, according to a St. Pete Rising report.
From a $900 Parking Lot Fryer to a Billion-Dollar Brand
The chain's origin story is a far cry from its current scale. Dave's Hot Chicken was founded in May 2017 when four friends pooled $900 to set up a street-side fryer in a Pasadena parking lot, per Wikipedia.
That scrappy beginning drew celebrity attention early. Musician Drake purchased a significant minority ownership stake in 2021, joining a high-profile investor group that includes actor Samuel L. Jackson, Maria Shriver, Michael Strahan, and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, as reported by QSR Magazine. Private equity firm Roark Capital later acquired majority control of the chain in June 2025 in a deal valuing it at $1 billion, following a 2024 fiscal year in which system-wide sales topped $600 million, according to Forbes.
Seven Spice Levels, One Liability Waiver
Part of the chain's viral appeal comes from its menu gimmick. Dave's Hot Chicken serves seven spice levels ranging from No Spice to Reaper, with the hottest tier requiring customers to sign a physical liability waiver because of its extreme Carolina Reaper pepper content, per the same St. Pete Rising report. The chain serves whole chicken tenders, sliders, and bites.
The Bradenton opening adds to a string of Florida debuts Hoodline has tracked this year, including a Pinellas Park storefront takeover and a planned spot on St. Augustine's U.S. 1. For now, the exact opening date, hiring timeline for the roughly 70-seat Bradenton dining room, and any traffic impacts on the busy Cortez Road West corridor remain open questions as construction moves toward its early 2027 target.
