Co-owner of Shaq-affiliated chicken restaurant on looming grand opening: 'We’ve been looking forward to this day since we signed the lease for the store'

The Houston outpost of a fast-casual restaurant brand owned by former National Basketball Association (NBA) big man Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal is expected to open this month – and while the exact date for the grand opening isn’t known yet – the people behind Big Chicken are in the process of assembling the team that’ll work on Westheimer Road near the South Gessner Road intersection, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported.

And when the eatery at 9660 Westheimer Rd. finally opens its doors, the station reported, it’ll be the second franchise in Texas after the one that takes up residence at the new Moody Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT), with a second Houston establishment to open later this summer. 

“We’ve been looking forward to this day since we signed the lease for the store, and we’re ready to start building our all-star team,” Galleria-area franchise co-owner Fasil Malik said in the report.

According to KHOU, counting the Austin franchise and the two soon-to-be opened Houston businesses, Big Chicken seeks to have a Lone Star State blueprint that consists of 50 total restaurants. 

Big Chicken’s menu consists of chicken sandwiches, tenders and popcorn chicken, with certain items bearing names of friends and family members. 

According to Pro Basketball Reference, O'Neal averaged nearly 24 points and over 10 rebounds through 1,207 games from 1992 to 2011, having played for the Magic, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics. 

O'Neal won three consecutive NBA championships with the Lakers while paired up with the late Kobe Bryant and another title with the Heat.

Once a teenager living in San Antonio while his father was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, the 7-foot-1 Hall of Famer has ingrained himself in the Houston community during the last few months. 

CBS Sports reported that the 50-year-old O’Neal made Christmas Eve memorable for one local family when he paid for their holiday meal at Kenny and Ziggy's New York Delicatessen, which also recently celebrated a grand opening. 

A traffic stop for speeding earlier this year was turned into a hilarious intro for TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” the program he co-hosts with longtime Turner Sports commentator Ernie Johnson and former players Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, with the Houston officer who pulled him over setting up the beginning of a recent episode, per KHOU.