Kris Humphries Plans 30-Store Hot Chicken Expansion After Leaving the NBA
· Yahoo Sports
Kris Humphries has spent his post-NBA years building a restaurant business in Minnesota, and his family’s Dave’s Hot Chicken deal now gives the group room for as many as 30 locations across the state.
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The former power forward and his family first signed with Dave’s Hot Chicken in 2022, starting with a 10-location agreement for the Twin Cities and surrounding counties. Their first Minnesota restaurant opened near Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka in June 2023.
Humphries had already been working in franchising before the hot chicken deal. He invested in Five Guys during his NBA career, later became an early Crisp & Green franchise partner and then added Dave’s Hot Chicken with relatives William, Debra and Alex Humphries.
Humphries played his final NBA season in 2017 and announced his retirement in 2019. Since then, his public work has centered on restaurants in Minnesota, far from the reality-TV attention that followed his 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian.
The Restaurant Business Started During His NBA Career
Humphries told FOX 9 that he began looking for places to invest his earnings during the 2008 housing crash. His family chose Five Guys and developed locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
By 2020, CBS Minnesota said the family had 10 Five Guys restaurants. Humphries had also become Crisp & Green’s first franchise partner, with locations in Maple Grove, St. Paul and the University of Minnesota’s Dinkytown neighborhood.
In his 2019 Players’ Tribune retirement essay, Humphries said he had opened 10 Five Guys franchises and was preparing to open seven Crisp & Green restaurants across the Midwest.
The Dave’s Hot Chicken Deal Grew From 10 Stores to 30
Dave’s Hot Chicken announced in April 2022 that it had signed a franchise agreement with William, Debra, Kris and Alex Humphries for 10 locations in Minnesota. The original deal covered the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, including Carver, Washington, Hennepin and Ramsey counties, along with Minnetonka and North Loop.
The first Minnesota Dave’s Hot Chicken opened in Minnetonka in June 2023, across from Ridgedale Center. The location sits close to Hopkins High School, where Humphries played before attending the University of Minnesota.
The family later expanded the agreement. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported in September 2025 that the Humphries family had increased its Dave’s Hot Chicken deal to 30 locations across Minnesota.
More Minnesota Locations Followed the First Opening
After the Minnetonka launch, the Humphries family opened additional Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurants in the Twin Cities area. A Rochester location followed in June 2025, becoming the family’s first Dave’s outside the Twin Cities, according to KTTC.
Recent social posts from Humphries have also pointed to the Oak Park Heights opening as the family’s eighth Dave’s Hot Chicken location in Minnesota. The restaurant is listed at 5910 Neal Avenue N. in Oak Park Heights.
The larger agreement gives the group room to keep building beyond the first wave of stores. Earlier local coverage also listed North Loop, Coon Rapids, St. Cloud and Rochester among the markets tied to the family’s expansion plans.
Humphries Addressed the Celebrity Attention When He Retired
Humphries used his 2019 retirement essay to talk about the public reaction to his marriage and divorce from Kardashian. “I was never a person who wanted to be famous,” he wrote.
He said the attention affected him during his playing career and left him dealing with anxiety in public places. The essay also pushed back on the idea that the marriage was fake, with Humphries writing that the relationship had been real to him.
The restaurant work was already part of his next phase when he wrote the essay. He identified the Five Guys and Crisp & Green locations as the business projects taking up his time after basketball.
His New Business Is Still Tied to Minnesota
Humphries was born in Minnesota, played at Hopkins High School and spent one college season with the Minnesota Golden Gophers before entering the NBA. His restaurant work has stayed close to that home base.
The Dave’s Hot Chicken expansion continues that pattern. The first location opened in Minnetonka, Rochester pushed the brand outside the Twin Cities, and the expanded deal gives the Humphries family rights to keep developing across the state.
Page Six recently noted that Humphries, now 41, has stayed mostly out of celebrity coverage while appearing at restaurant openings and promoting the family’s Dave’s Hot Chicken locations in Minnesota.