Hot Chicken Takeover has experienced six restaurant closures within the past year. Credit: Courtesy of Dilara Casey
The future of Hot Chicken Takeover, a Columbus-based hot chicken chain, appears to be up in the air following several recent and abrupt closures across the city.
After shutting down both its Gahanna and Grandview Heights locations on Sept. 6, the chain has now shut down its Westerville location as well, according to the Columbus Dispatch. This makes three closures in less than a week.
The HCT on the second floor of North Market is the only location that remains open, leaving the once-expanding chain with just one location in its home city, the Dispatch article states.
The Lewis Center restaurant closed permanently in January, followed by Easton Town Center in March and Clintonville in July.
An NBC4 article states HCT’s former parent company, Untamed Brands, was acquired by Craveworthy Brands — the restaurant group behind BD’s Mongolian Grill and Dirty Dough — in May 2024.
The Lantern reached out to Craveworthy for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
Craveworthy announced plans to merge HCT with the Chicago-based hot chicken concept Budlong, creating a new joint restaurant titled “HCT: Southern Chicken,” following the acquisition.
“In future locations outside our home bases, the new name will be HCT: Southern Chicken, but in Columbus it will stay Hot Chicken Takeover,” Gregg Majewski, founder and CEO of Craveworthy, said in a 2024 statement to NBC4. “[Customers] will start seeing branding and stuff like that for HCT: Southern Chicken, but nothing else changes.”
Now, just over a year later, that promise appears to be in question, as six out of the seven Columbus locations have shuttered.
