Famous Dave's

Famous Dave's of America, Inc. is a barbecue chain that mostly operates in the Midwestern United States, with a menu featuring pork ribs, chicken, beef brisket, and a variety of barbecue sauces. The company was founded by Dave Anderson, an Ojibwe-Choctaw who later led the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs from 2004 to 2005. He opened the first Famous Dave's restaurant near Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1994. By 2026, the chain had grown to 111 locations across 30 U.S. states, plus four international spots in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, and Winnipeg.

The original Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que in Hayward burned down on the morning of November 3, 2014. A second location, built in 1995 in Minneapolis's Linden Hills neighborhood to resemble a classic BBQ shack, closed in 2014 and was demolished in 2016. A third spot opened in 1996 in Uptown Minneapolis as a Blues club called Famous Dave's BBQ & Blues, but it closed in 2019. A "Lodge" format debuted in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and the first franchise-run restaurant opened in Burnsville, Minnesota.

Jeff Crivello became CEO in 2017. The company rebranded as BBQ Holdings and started buying other brands in 2020. It was sold to MTY Food Group in 2022, and Crivello left BBQ Holdings in May 2023.

Dave Anderson earned a master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1986 without first getting an undergraduate degree. In 1994, he was an early investor in the Rainforest Café chain, and in October of that year he opened the first Famous Dave's. The company went public in 1996, two years after the first restaurant opened, a move Anderson later called "the worst decision of his life" on Facebook. He served as CEO until 1997 and remained board chairman until 2003. Anderson ended his ties with Famous Dave's in March 2014, signing a one-year non-compete agreement, after which he launched Jimmie's Old Southern Smokehouse BBQ.