Shaq takes a shot at cruise eatery
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal is bringing his new restaurant concept to the high seas.
Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy tells USA TODAY the NBA Hall of Famer has signed a deal with the line to open one of his Big Chicken eateries on the Carnival Radiance in 2020.
O’Neal already is the face of Carnival in new advertising where he’s billed as the cruise giant’s chief fun officer.
“When we started talking with Shaq, he told me that he was doing this Big Chicken restaurant concept that he always had wanted to do, and that he had all these great fried chicken recipes,” Duffy says. “We said: ‘ We don’t have a fried chicken place on our ships. We think this is something fun that our guests would really like.’ ”
O’Neal’s first Big Chicken restaurant just opened in Las Vegas in late October, and he plans more locations in Los Angeles and Atlanta. O’Neal recently documented the process of opening the first venue in an eightepisode Facebook Watch series called Big Chicken Shaq.
Duffy says the Big Chicken planned for Radiance will offer a variety of fried chicken sandwiches, fries and other sides during the day, all free of charge. For breakfast, it will serve chicken and egg biscuits, among other options.
The restaurant will be located toward the back of the ship’s Lido Dock near one of the Guy Fieri-themed Guy’s Burger Joint outlets that are on all Carnival ships.
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