Shaquille O’Neal’s restaurateur game is a double-edged sword. Especially when it comes to Big Chicken Shaq. Unlike his business with Krispy Kreme and Papa John’s, O’Neal put his personality into Big Chicken. And it works for the most of it. However, the cutthroat fast casual dining industry has overpowered him recently. He’s faced some setbacks, brought in managing partners, reshuffled a few things, and kept his restaurant group inspired by his childhood going. The results even show.
According to latest reports, Big Chicken is one of the fastest-growing chains in the fast casual dining industry. Through multiple partnerships and a very tough selection process, there are more than 350 locations in development across the US and even overseas.
JRS Hospitality launched Big Chicken as a Shaq-owned business in 2018 with about two dozen locations. Since turning into a franchising company in 2021, O’Neal and his business partners set about an ambitious plan to open 300 locations nationwide with partnerships. The other side, though, they expected it to be an empire with hundreds of stores by 2024. But it’s well below that in its developmental stages.
Like, in 2022 he was going to open 50 locations in Texas alone. While it was working, opening locations in Houston, Lubbock, Fort Worth, and more, one of Big Chicken’s Houston restaurants shuttered abruptly in 2024. That seemed to show a larger pattern.
Every time Shaq attends a grand opening of a Big Chicken, there appears to be a parallel news of another store closing. A California store closed quietly, and the Arkansas franchises defected to do their own thing. While the first Tampa location opened this year, the one in Lake City, Florida abruptly closed after only a few weeks of operations and auctioned its commercial equipment in July.
Despite losing stores very rapidly between 2024-25, it appears the pace of Big Chicken is still on track to become a 350-store nationwide empire.
Big Chicken Shaq’s tough road
Big Chicken is haunted by very common nightmares of the restaurant business. Its CEO, Josh Halpern was very strict about the franchisee selection process to protect Shaquille O’Neal’s brand. It was a slower but necessary process.
When they did select the franchisee, finding a location was often the next challenge. Sometimes they take a hefty risk. For instance, the new Big Chicken in Livonia was formerly Guy Ritchie’s failed chicken restaurant. Yet Shaq’s restaurant is thriving.
Opening a Big Chicken is also a significant investment for the franchisee. It reportedly costs upwards of $1 million per store. According to a local Houston realtor, the overhead costs to keep such a large restaurant running was the reason for one of the Houston locations closing.
Amid these lows, industry veterans, Craveworthy Brands joined Big Chicken and JRS Hospitality as a managing partner. Josh Halpern is now the CEO of Craveworthy who still handles Big Chicken operations. Under them, Big Chicken is once more regaining traction.
They’ve made their first NIL deal, opened in arenas like Chicago Sky’s Wintrust Arena, opened in the UK with locations in development in the Honduras and Central America. It’s expanded its menu too.
Big Chicken has now launched Shaq Snacks with an accompanying commercial today starring the big man himself. The new menu features five new sandwiches like El Shaquito and All-American. Not hard to guess they’re named after him too.
And for all the standard restaurateur problems Shaq’s faced, Big Chicken is clearly thriving. So Shaq’s chicken mogul dreams are on track.
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