Dave's Hot Chicken opens second Manchester site
The Nashville-style chain has taken a unit inside the Trafford Centre, its 16th UK restaurant, as owner Azzurri Group pushes toward a European rollout.
Dave's Hot Chicken has opened its second Manchester restaurant, taking the Nashville-style chain inside the Trafford Centre as part of a wider UK push.
The site follows the brand's first Manchester opening at the Printworks and becomes its 16th in the UK. Dave's Hot Chicken serves made-to-order tenders and sliders, dredged and fried fresh rather than held under a heat lamp.
A seven-level spice scale
A seven-level spice scale and a $1bn parent company, landed inside a shopping centre.
The menu runs on a seven-step heat ladder, from "Not Hot" up to the "Reaper", the chain's hottest option, alongside classic Nashville hot chicken sides. The format keeps the fast-casual counter-service model the brand uses across its estate.
Keyana Mohammadi, director of marketing at Dave's Hot Chicken UK, said the business had "had our sights set on Trafford Centre for some time," calling the opening a milestone in its UK growth.
Room to grow under Azzurri
Dave's Hot Chicken operates in the UK under Azzurri Group, the company behind Zizzi and ASK Italian. Azzurri chief executive Steve Holmes called the brand a "once-in-a-generation" addition to the group's portfolio and said it has capacity for at least 60 UK locations.
Azzurri secured exclusive development rights in September 2025 to open 180 Dave's Hot Chicken restaurants across 10 European countries, a rollout that puts the Trafford Centre site well inside the opening phase of a much larger plan.
The expansion comes after reports earlier this year that Azzurri was weighing a sale of its UK and European franchise rights, a reminder of how much capital is chasing fried-chicken concepts right now. Wingstop, a rival chain in the same format, has had a rockier run on this side of the Atlantic, cutting its outlook as sales slow.
Dave's Hot Chicken itself changed hands last summer, when Roark Capital bought the US parent in a deal reported at $1bn, a sign of how much money is chasing the format on both sides of the Atlantic.
More UK openings are expected to follow as Azzurri works through its pipeline, with Trafford Centre serving as a test of how the brand performs inside a shopping-centre food hall rather than a standalone high street unit.
