ABOUT US

So how do two computer geeks end up opening a chicken restaurant? In case you didn’t know, Dam Chicken was started by Bill Schwartz and Jeff Davidson who also happen to have started Inter-Quest in Beaver Dam. They spend a lot of time traveling for continuing education in the technology industry and have developed a passion for good food.

All this travel has introduced them to all kinds of restaurants and flavors from all over the country, and even other countries! In 2014, Jeff was visiting relatives in Nashville, TN. After having seen a place called Hattie B’s on Food Network, he waited two hours in line outside in the hot sun just to try this thing called Nashville Hot Chicken.

Fast forward a year – Bill and Jeff are in Nashville for a training event and, on Jeff’s urging they first venture to Prince’s, the restaurant that invented Nashville Hot Chicken. The next day they decide to order a bunch of Hattie B’s chicken--and I mean a BUNCH of chicken. In fact, they buy a flaming hot suitcase (yes it has flames painted on it) to completely fill with chilled chicken on ice to fly back to Wisconsin so they can figure out how to make it themselves.

Over a couple of beers one afternoon, they joked about starting their own “Dam Chicken” restaurant. Sure enough, the domain name was available, and the name stuck. Over the next three years, they worked on more recipes than just Nashville-style hot chicken and made sure to get friends, family, and of course, Inter-Quest employees to try it.

A restaurant needs more than just food, so while working through recipes they also needed to design a building layout, and everything involved in reconstructing an old building in downtown Beaver Dam (yes, they did all of that too). A lot of challenges, a lot of fun, and today you have Dam Chicken to try. We’re happy to invite you to join our fun adventure in food right here in Beaver Dam, WI.