Owner of Over 155 Restaurants, Shaquille O’Neal Reveals Why His $2.24 Billion Rich Company Isn’t Just Making Pizza in China

Fast food extraordinaire, Shaquille O’Neal is pretty occupied. The 4x NBA champion is opening multiple units of his own dining empire, Big Chicken. But he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Specifically, the global restaurant business that taught him the ins and outs of franchising. Shaq, who has a knack for surrounding himself with experts, was brought in as an expert himself. After bringing his larger-than-life persona to this $2.24 billion brand, he’s participating in its growth.

Between his many festival appearances, charity work, and press events, Big Diesel hopped on a plane to another continent. All to give the staff and customers of a new franchise a slice of that Shaq energy.

Shaquille O’Neal boosts Papa John 7000 miles away

Papa John’s Pizza brought Shaquille O’Neal onto its board of directors in 2019. As expected, it has since seen an upward turn in its fortunes. Not only have they brought back the popular Shaq-a-Roni pizza to their menu and renewed their deal, O’Neal has also been instrumental in furthering their global scope. While revealing plans to grow to 1750 locations in China, a rep for Papa John’s said, “We are also delighted that our board member and franchise partner, Shaquille O’Neal joined us in Shanghai to celebrate this special moment.”

The pizza chain is growing and Shaq is participating in its success. On September 26, Papa John’s opened a new location in Shanghai, marking its 300th restaurant in China. The Shaq-o-Roni master went to the new branch to personally welcome the staff and customers into the growing family.

Their expansion plans align with the Big Aristotle vision. Shaq operates 155 restaurants across the US, including multiple units of Papa John’s. He’s adapted his restaurant know-how to Big Chicken, which is currently developing at least 300 national locations.

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Papa John’s has adapted its growth plans to its regional customer base. Apart from Shaq, the pizza company brought on relevant celebrity power including the K-Pop’s buzzworthy, girl group IVE. It’s using local data to keep its customers happy, and the big man is all about bringing a smile on people’s faces.

“We’re not just making pizza; we’re crafting moments for people to share together,” the Los Angeles Lakers legend said at the grand opening.

Shaq packs happy vibes with food

While some would think Big Chicken conflicted with his Shaq’s existing restaurant franchises, the multi-hyphenate doesn’t let it bother him.

Shaq attributes his dining business success to his learnings from other franchises. When he joined Papa John’s board in 2019, the pizza empire was unsteady. It needed internal changes and Shaq brought that with him.

Apart from flying thousands of miles for the new location, he also did hilarious antics to make customers laugh.

Since bringing back the Shaq-o-Roni pizza, the sales of it raised $63,000 for a Canadian nonprofit in February that provided meals to struggling households. As Shaquille O’Neal said, pizza is not the only specialty at Papa John’s.

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