Hot Chicken Takeover

Founder Joe DeLoss started the company after visiting Nashville, Tennessee and being introduced to the local specialty hot chicken in 2013.

[1] The company was initially founded as a pop-up restaurant in April 2014,[2] before launching a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter later that year to fund the purchase of a food truck.

[5] The company received significant media coverage for its stated mission of being a fair chance employer that provides job opportunities to formerly incarcerated people who are reentering the workforce and other individuals who are not otherwise able to find work.

[8] Founder Joe DeLoss has stated that workers with former criminal histories are better and more reliable employees than others, and that the company employs anyone with "an orientation towards personal growth and a willingness to respond to coaching".

[11] In 2019, they made their Cleveland area debut, opening a new location at Crocker Park in the western suburb of Westlake.