Dave's Hot Chicken Declares a September 15 Start at Westfield Century City
A city tax registration puts the East Hollywood parking-lot original on Level 2 at 10250 Santa Monica Blvd, with no health permit on file yet.
Dave's Hot Chicken has a business tax registration on file with the Los Angeles Office of Finance for Suite #FC8 at 10250 Santa Monica Blvd, better known as Westfield Century City. The record lists the operator as Elevated Restaurant Group, LLC, classifies the business as a limited-service restaurant, and carries a declared location start date of Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
Westfield has the listing up already, marked coming soon on Level 2. What the city record does not contain is just as worth knowing: there is no health permit and no Certificate of Occupancy attached, and the start date is a figure the operator reported to the city rather than a date the city signed off on.
From a $900 Parking Lot to the Mall
The origin story is one of the better ones in Los Angeles food, and Dave's tells it plainly on its own site. In 2017 the founders set up in an East Hollywood parking lot with a couple of folding tables and a portable fryer. Instagram brought people. Then a reporter from Eater LA came by, ate a tender, and the next day published a post headlined East Hollywood's New Late Night Hot Chicken Stand Might Blow Your Mind.
The lines went around the block. An older brother joined the team, they opened a brick-and-mortar, and the sign-off on their story page still reads: some guys in an East Hollywood parking lot who started with $900. Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan and Tommy Rubenyan founded it, with Gary joining after.
In 2019 they partnered with Wetzel's Pretzels co-founder Bill Phelps and film producer John Davis to franchise it. By Westfield's accounting the brand has now sold rights to more than 1,216 locations across the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Canada, with 135 or more opening this year. The investor list runs Drake, Usher, Maria Shriver, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Strahan.
What the Filing Does and Does Not Say
A business tax registration is the city's first formal acknowledgment that a company intends to operate at an address. It opens a tax account and records the classification, in this case NAICS 722513 for limited-service restaurants. It is a real signal of intent, and it is also the earliest and thinnest one.
The declared start date is self-reported. The city writes down what the operator tells it, and nothing in that field guarantees a door opens that morning. A restaurant cannot legally serve food until a health permit is issued, and the interior needs a Certificate of Occupancy confirming it meets fire, accessibility and zoning requirements. Neither appears alongside this filing yet.
The registered entity, Elevated Restaurant Group, LLC, lists a mailing address in Mission Viejo, so this is a franchise operator working out of Orange County rather than a corporate store.
“Some guys in an East Hollywood parking lot, who started with $900 and a dream of our own.”
DAVE'S HOT CHICKEN, ON ITS OWN ORIGIN
Treat September 15 as a target, not a promise. It is a date the operator gave the city, and no health permit or occupancy sign-off has landed yet, so slippage is normal. The better reason to care is the round trip. This started in an East Hollywood parking lot with $900 and a folding table, and it is about to sell tenders on Level 2 of Century City.