Tastebuds beware: Nashville-style chicken chain restaurant opens in Framingham

Jesse Collings, The MetroWest Daily News
·3 min read

FRAMINGHAM — One of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the country has come to Framingham, with Dave's Hot Chicken opening today.

The Los Angeles-based chain of fast-casual chicken chains opens its first location in MetroWest at 341 Cochituate Road (Route 30). The restaurant specializes in selling Nashville-style "hot" chicken in a variety of formats, including in tenders and its most popular item, sliders.

"Our chicken sliders are our most popular item, especially coming with our signature sauce," said Rick Soltes, restaurant manager for the Dave's Hot Chicken in Framingham. "I think with Dave's Hot Chicken, we have juicy, tender chicken. A lot of people think of fried chicken and they think of KFC, which is often very crispy. We have a very different style of chicken, and it sets us apart."

A plate of chicken tenders, a slider and cheesy fries at Dave's Hot Chicken, July 26, 2023. The restaurant is at 341 Cochitauate Road in Framingham.
A plate of chicken tenders, a slider and cheesy fries at Dave's Hot Chicken, July 26, 2023. The restaurant is at 341 Cochitauate Road in Framingham.

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The restaurant hosted a VIP event on Wednesday, opening its doors to neighboring businesses and community members. All food was free.

"It's really good, we were pumped to come check it out," said Framingham resident Ian Pontos, who visited with his son, Ryan. "The chicken is pretty high quality, and the service has been excellent."

How spicy do you want your chicken? Your choice

Customers can control how hot they want their chicken with a scale of spice that can be added to each order, from no spice or lite mild, to the face-melting "reaper" level of spice — a spice so hot that customers must sign a waiver before ingesting it.

"I got the reaper and it's... a challenge," said Adil Singha, of Wellesley. "I'm Indian, so I feel like I can handle it. But it's definitely hot."

Bob Quinlan, co-owner of Dave's Hot Chicken, holds one of the restaurant's most popular items, a slider, at its newest location at 341 Cochituate Road in Framingham, July 26, 2023. Each piece is topped with Dave’s signature mix of spices, ranging from no spice to “reaper.”
Bob Quinlan, co-owner of Dave's Hot Chicken, holds one of the restaurant's most popular items, a slider, at its newest location at 341 Cochituate Road in Framingham, July 26, 2023. Each piece is topped with Dave’s signature mix of spices, ranging from no spice to “reaper.”

Besides chicken and fries, Dave's Hot Chicken offers desserts, including loaded milkshakes that are topped with either Oreos or McDonald's. Additional sides include kale slaw and mac and cheese.

"Most people will say that they didn't even know that we had mac," Soltes said. "The mac and cheese is the best, you can't make it at home any better than this."

The store is owned by G.Q. Chicken, which operates five other Dave's Hot Chicken in Massachusetts and plans to open about 30 throughout New England. Partner Bob Quinlan said Framingham is the best place for their market to be.

"We really loved the community, it's busy and I think it's the best market in Massachusetts — that is our understanding of it," Quinlan said. "It's a high traffic area, and it's great for retail."

Plenty of competition right in the neighborhood

The location is competitive for restaurants, particulary fast good. Dave's Hot Chicken shares the same plaza with Five Guys, Tennessee's Real BBQ and Caribbean eatery Nzuko, is bordered by Burger King on one side and McDonald's on the other, and is near other fast-food chicken options, including KFC and Chick-Fil-A.

Quinlan, who previously was involved in Jersey Mike's sub shops, said chicken's popularity is increasing in the fast food industry.

"Today's chicken is yesterday's burgers," he said. "People aren't looking for burgers maybe the way they were used to, and chicken is becoming very popular."

Dave's Hot Chicken has opened its fourth Massachusetts store at the Route 30 Mall on Cochituate Road in Framingham, July 26, 2023.
Dave's Hot Chicken has opened its fourth Massachusetts store at the Route 30 Mall on Cochituate Road in Framingham, July 26, 2023.

Dave’s Hot Chicken was started in 2017 by four friends in southern California who, according to the company's website, pooled together $900 to run a small cart with a grill in East Los Angeles. Using a signature developed recipe for hot chicken (sometimes referred to as "Nashville-style" chicken), the business was an instant success and the brand quickly began to expand into brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Less than a decade later, the chain has more than 100 restaurants in 22 states. The first Massachusetts location opened last year in Newton, with a second following in Woburn. A Boston location opened earlier this year, in addition to Framingham.

The Framingham location is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Dave's Hot Chicken opens fourth MA restaurant in Framingham