One of the most popular and fastest-growing chicken chains in America is finally set to open its doors in Turlock this week.

The much-anticipated arrival of Dave's Hot Chicken, located at 2741 Countryside Drive within the Monte Vista Crossings Shopping Center, will be on Thursday with a soft launch. A grand opening will be Friday. Doors open at 10 a.m each day. It will be the 369th location across the globe.

The Journal was first to report in late July that Dave's Hot Chicken had submitted an application to expand to Turlock.

On Wednesday, friends, family, community dignitaries and members of the media were invited for a special to an exclusive first-look at the city's latest dining option.

Inside the revamped space, which formerly housed a T-Mobile store, is artwork honoring the city of Turlock and the greater Central Valley. Customers are welcomed with oldies playing on the speakers and bright red seats. The space is only 9,740 square feet, so a new outdoor seating area directly behind the neighboring Buffalo Wild Wings was built, with similar red seats and tables.

Dave’s Hot Chicken offers a simple selection of seasoned fried chicken tenders, as well as chicken sandwiches and sliders. It is described as “Nashville-style” hot chicken, with seven spice levels available, the hottest being "The Reaper," which requires customers to sign a waiver. There are also sides like fries, cheese fries, mac and cheese and kale slaw, as well as milkshakes.

Of the dozens of early visitors Wednesday was Nathaniel Ramos and Victoria Frey of Turlock, who each opted for the sandwiches. While Ramos was familiar with the brand, Frey was a first-timer.

"I love the chicken," she said. "It's fantastic, and it's different than what else is out there. (Turlock) has so many chicken places with KFC or Popeye's, but this is a little bit different with the spiciness."

The brand is largely recognizable from its logo, which features a screaming chicken, similar to the toy rubber chickens that are sold at stores. They have a huge presence on social media, racking up 1.9 million followers on Instagram and another 89,000 on Facebook, as well as an abundance of big-name investors that have included rapper Drake, actor Samuel L. Jackson, former NFL star and media personality Michael Strahan, and TV producer and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.

"They do a lot of promo and have a really big brand, so it's super exciting to get a big name that's so popular in the social media space here in Turlock," Ramos said. "This is a growing community, right? To be able to have them out here, it's welcoming. They started in SoCal, grew from there, and now it's a checkpoint for so many people and give peple more of a reason to stop in Turlock."

The restaurant began as a pop-up cart in an East Los Angeles parking lot in 2017, after lifelong friends Tommy and Gary Rubenyan, Arman Oganeshyan and Dave Kopushyan scraped together $900 and invested it all towards the project. After rave reviews from curious residents and a promotional push on Instagram, the friends saw their chicken stand explode in popularity after being featured in Eater Los Angeles. They soon opened a physical location in 2018. As expansion grew around the world, Dave’s Hot Chicken sold in June to private equity firm Roark Capital in a deal valued at $1 billion.

The next closest Dave's Hot Chicken location to Turlock is in Livermore, though the chain recently introduced their famous chicken to the Central Valley with a Fresno restaurant earlier this year.

"Turlock is amazing," said Director of Operations Jose Velasquez. "I've been here for maybe one week and a half, and everybody around city has been fantastic, and we're so excited because it's not only a new market, it's also the opportunity to show what we can do."

If the Turlock opening is anything like the one in Fresno, Velasquez anticipates there being 3,000 to 3,500 customers swinging by with a line consistently going out the door. Trends also show that people return in droves, many to re-order their favorite dishes and others to continue testing themselves against the spice options.

"We offer no spice at all, then we have lite-mild, mild, medium, hot, extra hot, and then we get to the Reaper," Velasquez said. "The Reaper is a big challenge for people. When I tried it, I cried. The first 10 seconds, said, 'Oh, this is not too bad.' And after that, I cried. But no worries. We have Dr Pepper, we can call 9-1-1, and we have shakes!"

And as a neon sign reads at the store entrance, Dave's Hot Chicken is "OPEN LATE."

The restaurant will be open Sundays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to midnight, and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.