New Dave’s Hot Chicken Settles in After ‘Hectic’ Start

Daves Hot Chicken opens in Poughkeepsie. Photo by Caleb Tysz '26

In the days after its opening in early August, Dave’s Hot Chicken in Poughkeepsie was a madhouse. 

Lines stretched from the front counter deep into the seating area of the restaurant as countless locals flocked to the trendy restaurant. Now, over a month later, the restaurant has found its footing, thanks to general manager Jose Santiago.

Santiago and the rest of the staff had little time to fully prepare for the opening, and at first struggled to handle the initial rush of customers – long lines to order translated to even longer wait times for customers' food to be ready. The chaotic start met Santiago’s expectations.

“You go in there expecting it's going to be pretty hectic,” he said.

During the frantic first few days, Santiago focused on controlling his team through the tough time, as well as speaking to guests, attempting to keep everyone satisfied; he was thoroughly impressed with how his staff handled the high-stress environment.

“The attitude was really well with this team, no matter how busy it was, they always stayed positive and had a good attitude,” he said.

Santiago has had experience in many facets of the restaurant business, most of which came from his five years working at the Buffalo Wild Wings location further down Route 9 in Wappingers.

There, he worked his way up from a cook all the way to becoming a restaurant manager, before eventually joining Dave’s Hot Chicken as it prepared for its opening in Poughkeepsie.

“That was when [Dave’s] really started to take off,” said Santiago. “They really started to push their social media advertisements, so I started learning a little bit more about it.” 

In search of a new position, Santiago saw an ad for the general manager position with the new Dave’s Hot Chicken location. He found out he got the role around a month before the Aug. 8 opening, presenting a frenzied few weeks.

“The ball started rolling pretty quickly from there,” said Santiago. “I trained upstate at some of the franchised stores we have up there, and I spent a couple of weeks in California.”

In California, Santiago learned more about Dave’s Hot Chicken’s history, as well as their mission statement. Founded in East Hollywood only eight years ago, Dave’s has effectively used social media to climb out of its humble beginnings.

The startup caught the attention of Drake, who became a significant investor in Dave’s Hot Chicken. Since then, they have successfully leveraged the musician’s popularity to continue to grow their social media presence. The meteoric rise of TikTok and its trendiness helped Dave’s as well, as it became a trend to try their hottest spice, “The Reaper.”

Their social media still targets the 18-25 age demographic, a perfect match for Marist University’s campus, a mere five miles away.

“We really embrace the youth and embrace the social media aspect,” said Santiago. “I think that attracts a lot of people.”

As of July, Dave’s Hot Chicken had 329 locations in the United States and was present in 284 cities. Though there are a handful in New York City, the Albany restaurant was the previous closest location in the state.

Now, Dave’s Hot Chicken adds itself to a lengthy list of fast food options along Route 9. With the grand opening excitement settling down, the staff has effectively adjusted to make the restaurant a much smoother operation.

“They had the ability and the skillset, they just needed to get the practice in a little more, and we started turning things around,” Santiago said of his team.