By james art Singer Drake turns 38 on Thursday. But he is the one who gives gifts.
The 2010 Billboard Artist of the Decade is an investor in Dave’s Hot Chicken, the fast-growing Nashville-style hot chicken restaurant chain. To celebrate his birthday, Drake is giving everyone free Dave’s Hot Chicken Sliders on Thursday, the company said.
To get the slider — more like a full-sized sandwich — people have to download the Dave’s Hot Chicken app, visit their local restaurant and then scan the reward at the register. The celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is good for in-person visits only, not online orders or through third-party delivery services.
In the Las Vegas Valley, Dave’s Hot Chicken is in the Grand Bazaar Shops on the Strip; at 9040 W. Sahara Ave., near Fort Apache Road; and at 1735 W. Craig Road, Suite 1, in North Las Vegas.
The slider is served on a potato bun with straw and pickles and drizzled with Dave’s sauce. The restaurant specializes in sliders, tenders and bites, at heat levels ranging from No Spice to Reaper (which requires a signed waiver).
Parking poultry
Three childhood friends raised $900 to launch Dave’s Hot Chicken in 2017 by hauling portable fryers and folding tables to an East Hollywood parking lot. The concept took off and a neighborhood location soon followed.
In 2019, the team struck a deal with Bill Phelps, co-founder and former CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels, to franchise the Dave’s Hot Chicken concept. Today, Phelps is the company’s CEO. As of press time, Dave’s website lists about 215 open locations in the U.S. in 30 states and Washington, D.C., and more than a dozen in Canada and the Middle East.
The company has sold the rights to more than 1,000 franchise locations in the US, Canada and the Middle East, with more than 80 restaurants slated to open this year.
Contact Jonathan L. Wright at [email protected]. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.