Chicken Guy!, co-founded by celebrity chef Guy Fieri and restaurateur Robert Earl, has expanded its senior leadership team with the appointment of John Dikos as Chief Licensing Officer to lead the brand’s nationwide expansion. With the addition of Dikos to the executive team, Chicken Guy! is positioning itself for vigorous growth, opening restaurants in high-profile end caps, freestanding locations, airports, stadiums, and on college campuses throughout the country. A selective partnering program is being launched to compliment the brand’s company-owned development plan. A limited number of restauranteurs will be recruited to ensure consistent execution, alignment with the brand’s ethos, and team-centric culture.
Chicken Guy! opened its first location at Disney Springs, a shopping, dining and entertainment district in Walt Disney World in August, 2018. This year, the brand opened locations at Redskins’ FedEx Field, Aventura Mall in Miami, 49er’s Levi’s Stadium, with plans to open more locations including additional outlets in South Florida, Mall of America, LAX, Las Vegas, Nashville and other locations yet to be announced. With his extensive experience in the franchise industry, coupled with plans to target new and existing markets for growth, Dikos will be responsible for the brand’s partnerships.
“When Robert and I first started developing Chicken Guy! four years ago, our goal was to bring real deal chicken at the right price to as many people as we could without compromising quality,” says Guy Fieri. “Now, this concept is ready to fly and bringing in a key executive like John Dikos is paramount to helping us bring in the right partners and set our expansion plans. We’re goin’ big but not goin’ home.”
“Guy and I are so excited to take Chicken Guy! nationwide. Our first locations have been tremendously successful and now, with new franchise inquiries increasing daily, John’s experience and drive will be a fantastic asset to our brand’s growth,” says Earl. “We are excited and ready to go to the next level and introduce Chicken Guy! to great cities across the country.”
Dikos is the former Senior Vice President of Partnerships at MOD Pizza where he joined the company with just nine locations and contributed to the company’s explosive growth as he built the franchise program from the ground up and increased MOD’s location count to nearly 500 stores. MOD was named the fastest-growing restaurant brand in the US over the past 3 years on a percentage basis. With over 20 years of experience in strategic business development, franchising, licensing and restaurant finance, he has spent his career building restaurant business.
