Big Chicken CEO Josh Halpern is asking for some patience.
That means patience from current and potential franchisees, as well as other observers of the 47-unit chain, which is about six months into a managing partnership with Craveworthy Brands.
In March, Big Chicken became part of the Craveworthy Brands portfolio, joining 18 other concepts like Bd’s Mongolian Grill, Dirty Dough cookies, and Fresh Brothers Pizza. Most are owned by Craveworthy, but Big Chicken remains majority owned by basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, his family and friends (the “Shaq-o-sphere”) with Craveworthy holding a minority stake.
Despite being owned by one of the most famous and beloved athletes on the planet, Big Chicken has had some operational problems in recent years that have prevented the fast-casual concept from reaching its potential, Halpern said.
Those operational issues are the reason why Big Chicken came to Craveworthy, a platform designed to help emerging brands grow, Halpern said.
Some come to Craveworthy as distressed brands, “because they have the same problems that every emerging brand has,” he said.
Craveworthy, for example, last month shuttered the Ohio-based Hot Chicken Takeover chain, after buying it for 50 cents and trying to save the concept, but it was too late.
Others come to the Craveworthy portfolio because of the need “rocket fuel,” said Halpern.
Big Chicken needed both.
“Big Chicken, at the end of the day, needed the operational wherewithal to truly get to fulfill the rocket potential the brand has,” Halpern said. “I wasn’t going to get us there alone.”
With the deal, Halpern became Craveworthy’s chief business officer, working with the entire portfolio. But he also continues to helm Big Chicken, which is the leading revenue generator among the 19 Craveworthy brands.
Halpern’s relationship with the O’Neal family goes back to its early days, when Big Chicken had just two units. He contends the connection with the basketball legend is both the brand’s biggest strength and its biggest threat.
“Shaq is the greatest trial mechanism on earth,” said Halpern.
When Big Chicken units open, there are lines around the block for a month because of O’Neal’s rabid fan base.
Big Chicken opening day in Tampa. | Photo courtesy of Big Chicken.
The “threat,” however, comes when operations aren’t in place to make that initial success sustainable.
“People see those huge first month sales and immediately [they feel] ‘I’m on easy street,’ right? ‘I can take my foot off the gas,’” he said.
Big Chicken needed to get “way more operationally tight,” said Halpern. “It has to be run as any other fast-casual restaurant. Shaquille needs to be the whipped cream on top.”
Halpern said Craveworthy brings operational expertise to the table, as well as purchasing power to get better chicken pricing, and an improved tech stack.
Coming soon are a new logo and some brand refresh touches to appeal to younger consumers, as well as other “little things”—from steps in the kitchen, to training and supply chain tweaks—that Halpern argues can be the difference between winning and losing.
It's all part of getting the mousetrap right, he said. “But it takes more than a minute.”
So far, Big Chicken has rolled out a menu overhaul, with bigger sandwiches, some new menu categories (“Shaq Snacks”) and wilder combinations, like the Pit Boss, which piles fried cheese curds, barbecue sauce and cheese on a fried chicken sandwich.
Some favorites were removed from the menu, like the Shaq Attack sandwich, which had a vinegar-based slaw that Halpern said “was being thrown away like crazy.”
Halpern said Big Chicken is focusing on its brand promise of “big flavor, big food and big fun.”
And the Shaq Attack just wasn’t a “big fun” sandwich. But menu changes always result in some franchisee complaints, Halpern said.
“We launched the new menu on a Monday and by Wednesday we were getting calls [from franchisees] that the menu didn’t work,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, we need 90 days, 120 days, to really understand it.”
Sales, he said, dipped at first, but then went flat to slightly up over the past few weeks.
Now, Halpern said the brand is in a stronger position to build on burgeoning momentum.
More work on that “big fun” aspect, as well as operations, is still underway, Halpern said.
That has required some pruning of the system.
Halpern said a couple underperforming units have been closed. In addition, a franchisee in Arkansas was terminated for not meeting brand standards, resulting in the loss of seven units.
“It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make as CEO,” he said. “I knew we’d take two to three steps backward. But, if we didn’t make that decision, the negative ramifications would have been terminal.”
Halpern is also being more reserved in his projections of growth for the almost-all-franchised chain. Earlier this year, Big Chicken in press releases boasted having 350 units in development, for example.
Now, Halpern says six are under construction currently (three of them in other countries), and he expects another 20 to 30 to be under construction next year.
Some development announcements, like a 45-unit deal in South Florida, for example, are no longer in the works.
Now, Halpern said the company is being very selective about the type of franchisees they will grow with, looking at smaller, multi-concept groups and “hands-on” operators.
O’Neal’s celebrity initially brought a ton of franchisee interest, but Halpern said some 5,000 applicants have been turned away since franchising was launched four years ago.
“We came out of the box so smoking hot, that actually causes problems long term,” he said. “I thought I was being selective as hell.”
Sales last year were up 146% to $25 million, all on unit growth. The chain ended 2024 with 34 units, a 161% increase, according to Restaurant Business sister-brand Technomic.
But Big Chicken’s average unit volume in 2024 was about $1 million, down from $1.1 million the prior year, according to Technomic.
Halpern sees international growth as an opportunity for Big Chicken. “Shaq is a global brand,” he said.
The brand is open in an arena in the United Kingdom, and, soon, an arena in Canada. A franchisee is working to open brick-and-mortar locations in Toronto, and three are coming to Honduras in the next six months.
But Halpern said the company is focused on improving domestic performance.
Whenever Halpern runs into O’Neal’s mother, known as “Mama Lucille,” she embraces him and thanks him for shepherding the family business.
He feels the weight of that responsibility, he said. And that’s why he’s willing to take a few steps back, even if it doesn’t necessarily look good in the media.
“We want to make sure we’re building this the right way,” said Halpern. “For Shaq, this is his legacy.”