How One Restaurant is Spicing Up a Popular Fast Food Classic

In this episode of The Main Course, Barbara Castiglia speaks with
Big Chicken’s CEO Josh Halpern to learn about the disruption this
franchise is posed to cause franchises focused on chicken.


Big Chicken opened the doors of its first brick and mortar venue
in Las Vegas, NV in 2018. Since then, they’ve opened several
locations throughout the US including locations in stadium
arenas. They have also found a home with Carnival Cruise Lines.


Today, the restaurant is focused on growing intelligently while
bringing awareness to their brand. When asked what’s on the menu,
Josh Halpern comically commented “as you can imagine, chicken,
otherwise it’d be weird right?"


However, in all seriousness, Halpern continued to discuss what
makes Big Chicken unique. “We really try to put effort on the
chicken itself, right? So, we have chicken sandwiches, chicken
tenders, chicken sliders… We try to incorporate every possible
flavor profile from more savory to spicy because one of
Shaquille’s key values is authenticity.”


In fact, Shaquille has a deep connection to chicken as it was a
common dinner when he was a child. There’s even a Mac N’ Cheese
side with a Cheez-it crust that is modeled after what he
remembers his mom made when he was a kid.


Continue listening to Castiglia and Halpern discussing the future
vision of the Big Chicken franchise, how they are coping with
staffing and supply chain shortages, incorporating local flavor
profiles into menu design, how they utilized time during the
pandemic to set the stage to effectively expand their franchise
operations, and much more.