Dave’s Hot Chicken opened its first UK restaurant in London’s West End in December - Jeff Gilbert

A fried chicken war has broken out in the UK after two American restaurant chains hired private detectives and lawyers to fight over Britain’s fast food future.

Legal papers seen by The Telegraph reveal a bizarre battle in which lawyers grappled with the popularity of “Southern comfort food” and even asked whether “James Bond could become obsessed with Nashville hot chicken”.

The bewildering dispute was triggered by a “cult” American fast food chain’s recent expansion into the UK to meet the nation’s growing appetite for fatty foods.

And it has culminated in allegations that a former vice president of a rival spicy chicken shop posed as a free speech campaigner to try to “disrupt” his competitor’s UK expansion.

Dave’s Hot Chicken, which boasts A-list celebrity investors including actor Samuel L Jackson and rapper Drake, opened its first UK restaurant in London last December and is planning to roll out 60 more outlets.

Dave’s Hot Chicken’s celebrity investors include actor Samuel L Jackson - Unique Nicole/Getty Images

The deep-fried chicken company, set up in 2017 in Los Angeles by four childhood friends, has amassed 5 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, and now has 250 restaurants worldwide.

But, shortly after it launched its flagship store in London’s West End, it instructed lawyers to take action to block a spoof UK website set up to mock the “cultural hype” surrounding the “ludicrous” plan to encourage British people to adopt Nashville-style fried food.

However, a “cease and desist” letter was ignored by the secret owner of the parody website, daveshotchicken.uk.

A complaint was then lodged with Nominet, the watchdog that oversees UK domain names, which claimed the mock site, registered in 2022, was identical to the Dave’s Hot Chicken trade mark and would lead to confusion for customers seeking spicy sustenance.

In response, Nazim Gomri, a Los Angeles man, submitted legal papers explaining how he was a “fan of food culture” and bought the website legally and in good faith as a “parody or satirical commentary inspired by the Dave’s Hot Chicken phenomenon”.

He claimed he wanted to “humorously critique… the ludicrous context of [the] British adoption of Southern comfort food” and had no intention of competing with the company.

He added: “At the time, the idea that such a uniquely American brand and food type would ever exist in the UK was ludicrous and humorous.”

Nazim Gomri has been accused of wanting to ‘disrupt’ the British launch of Dave’s Hot Chicken - Instagram

His lawyers were at pains to stress that Mr Gomri was a “private individual with no business in the fast food industry, and he has no affiliation with Dave’s Hot Chicken or any competitor”.

Instead, Mr Gomri was exercising his “free speech” and “imagining this very red-blooded American concept with a British twist – a la James Bond becomes obsessed with Nashville Hot Chicken, of all things”.

However, lawyers for Dave’s Hot Chicken, which will unveil a Birmingham store next week followed by one in Manchester in August, filed papers claiming Mr Gomri’s claims were a “complete fabrication”, pointing out how there were “numerous examples of American fast food chains [which] already exist and in many cases have become household names in the UK”.

More importantly, they submitted a “private investigator’s report” which included “evidence” from Mr Gomri’s “own LinkedIn account” claiming he was, “from 2019 to 2023, including at the time of registration of the domain name, a vice president of Al’s Hot Chicken, a direct competitor” to Dave’s Hot Chicken in Los Angeles.

The report adds how Mr Gomri describes himself on the business networking site as an “expert in franchising” and had been involved in “enterprise business development and international relations which included global client management and expansion” having “forged relationships with over 50 top tier enterprise clients [including] McDonalds, Taco Bell, Arby’s. Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s and many more”.

The lawyers concluded that Mr Gomri had wanted to “disrupt” its clients “business interests”.

Daves Hot Chicken shop in London - Jeff Gilbert for The Telegraph

The Nominet ruling concluded Mr Gomri’s “supposed motive of parody did not ring true”. It added: “The idea that it is somehow ludicrous to imagine such a uniquely American brand and food type being exported to the UK does not stand up to much inspection in the light of many other American food brands having made that journey.”

Mr Gomri, it said, “has been found out” and that the claims he “was a vice president of a direct competitor of the complainant’s at the time of registration of the domain name, and that he seems to have been an expert in engaging in exactly the kind of activity with other fast food operators that he purportedly wanted to parody, puts a very different complexion on the matter”.

Nominet concluded Mr Gomri was left “without a leg to stand on” and he had no answer to the claim the website was “prejudicial” to the rights of Dave’s Hot Chicken brand.

On Friday night, diners at the London store on Shaftesbury Avenue joked about the ruling, claiming that a fried-chicken-loving James Bond could adopt such catchphrases as “live and let fry” or change Goldfinger’s remark to “no Mr Bond, I expect you to fry!”

Mr Gomri and Dave’s Hot Chicken did not respond to a request for comment.

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