Restaurant Operator Podcast

Strategic sizzle: Why Houston TX Hot Chicken prioritizes smart growth over rapid expansion

Houston TX Hot Chicken is leveraging its "electric" brand energy and massive social media following to drive organic franchise leads and fuel a strategic, nationwide expansion.

February 24, 2026

In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, talks with Brian Simowitz, president, and Andie Smirl, director of franchise sales, for Houston TX Hot Chicken. The Nashville hot chicken concept launched during COVID in 2020 in Las Vegas. The brand now has 31 units.

Part of what draws diners to the concept is its electric brand energy. With more than 400,000 social media followers, Houston TX Hot Chicken seems to be striking a nerve with consumers.

"The energy that you get from that level of social media followers that are engaging with our brand on a daily basis is unbelievable. So, you know, and it gives us a lot of relevance with new franchisees coming in as well, because they look at it and go, man, this brand is crazy," Simowitz said during the podcast. "And I'll share with you, quite honestly, we get a lot of potential franchise leads just from our social media and how big that social media footprint is."

Smirl joined the brand when it had already sold more than 100 units and said a lot of the brand's leads are truly organic.

"A lot of our leads are truly organic," she said during the podcast. "They are coming in because (potential franchisees) either tried the food or they've seen our social media. They've seen our content, either on LinkedIn or Instagram, something like that. So we're really lucky that we don't really have to sell that part of it. It's already really exciting to just see the brand. So I think that we get to be pretty strategic in kind of how we decide to grow.

"We don't want to just throw one restaurant across the country where our support is in Vegas. We want to be available and ideally in the same time zone for a little while at least where we can just kind of strategically grow to best support our franchisees. So we're pretty lucky in that and we don't take that for granted, but we want to be really smart about who we partner with."

To learn more about how Houston TX Hot Chicken attracts top-tier franchisees, what the brand's leaders look for in franchise partners and what the future holds for the company, listen to the podcast in its entirety.

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