Kris Humphries is building a restaurant base in Minnesota, operating multiple Dave’s Hot Chicken franchises after leaving the NBA in 2017. He opened his first location in the state in 2023, and the move gives him a business identity that is now more visible than his former playing career.
From 10 franchises to 30 locations
10 franchises were part of the plan Humphries signed in 2022, and by last September that had grown into a signed plan for 30 locations across the Twin Cities. That is the scale readers should focus on: this is not a single side project, but a multi-unit push in his home state.
30 locations also changes the way his post-NBA work reads. A former player who spent 13 seasons in the league and signed with the Utah Jazz in 2004 is now operating like a franchise builder, with Minnesota as the center of gravity. He told 9 that he knew the area from Hopkins High School and from spending time at the mall after school, and said he thought it would be cool to open the first one near where he went to school.
Hopkins High School and Minnesota
“I’m familiar with the area and went to Hopkins High School; we used to come over to the mall a lot after school,” Humphries told 9 at the time. He added, “So I thought it would be cool to do the first one near where I used to go to school,” and said the area needed a hot chicken spot. That local connection explains why the business landed in Minnesota instead of becoming another detached celebrity venture.
His own description of the shift is blunt: “Since I’ve stepped away from the game, I’m trying to stay under the radar and work on a new phase of my life,” he said, adding, “I’ve been developing some business ventures.” He has also said his lifestyle Instagram now focuses on those business endeavors, while he appears in several stores and takes part in hot chicken challenges.
Kim Kardashian and 2017
The public profile around Humphries still follows him because of his 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian in August 2011, but the business story is the part with operating weight. He dated her in 2010, and she later said on Watch What Happens Live in May 2017, “At the time … I just thought, ‘Holy s–t, I’m 30 years old, I better get this together. I better get married,” which keeps the old relationship in the background while his current work moves forward.
For readers, the practical takeaway is simple: Humphries is no longer defined by the NBA box score or the breakup cycle. He is now tied to multiple Dave’s Hot Chicken stores in Minnesota, and the open issue is scale inside that 30-location plan across the Twin Cities, not whether he has moved on from basketball.
