Fat Daddy’s Hot Chicken & Waffles brought its over-the-top Nashville-style comfort food to Ann Arbor in October, and it’s already the top-grossing of its three locations.

The playful, youth-oriented brand is the brainchild of Romulus resident James Brandon, who answers to Fat Daddy or Chef Jay. The Philadelphia native moved to Michigan twenty-three years ago and in 2019 left the “corporate shuffle” of managing Detroit Metro Airport operations for Paradies Lagardère, which runs retail outlets there.

He and his right-hand man at Paradies, Nick Patel, opened a take-out location in Riverview and last year a spot inside MGM Grand Detroit Casino. Business at the former Subway on E. Washington is “everything we thought and more,” Brandon shares, “I mean, the football team loves us. During the season they were here every day after practice.”

Their signature item and best seller is the Fat Daddy, a fresh, marinated fried chicken breast with slaw, sauce, and pickles on a toasted, buttered brioche bun. The Mac Daddy replaces the slaw with a scoop of mac and cheese. The Suga Mama features candied bacon and buns of glazed donuts flanking the chicken, which is available in five levels of “very, very real” heat.

“If you’re on a diet, this is not the place for you,” Brandon smilingly admits. He personally developed the recipes, testing them on his family, and is often found at the Ann Arbor location, even as plans to expand into Great Lakes Crossing Outlets and at Eight Mile and Schaefer in Detroit take shape.

“We ask everybody, ‘How’d you like it?’ Everybody loves it,” Brandon reports. “They love the Nashville seasoning, they love the hot. A lot of thought goes into trying to be not just a chicken place, but an extraordinary place to have a meal and have fun.”

Fat Daddy’s Hot Chicken & Waffles, 411 E. Washington St. (734) 585–0557. Tue.–Thurs. noon–10 p.m. Fri. & Sat. noon–midnight, Sun. noon–9 p.m. Closed Mon. fatdaddyshotchicken.com