Carnival Cruise Line’s “Chief Fun Officer” Shaquille O’Neal is growing his Big Chicken restaurants, according to the Orlando Sentinel. His first location opened in Las Vegas in October. The next sight where Big Chicken will spread its proverbial (and literal) wings is destination Carnival Radiance in the spring of 2020, Delish noted.

A natural progression, the NBA Hall of Famer says, is for his Big Chicken to take to the sea since a land location is already open. He stated that he’s “really excited” that his restaurant will have a sea-base on the Carnival Radiance, which has been the focus of a major renovation -- at the cost of $200 million.

The refurbishing will be complete in 2020.

Chief Fun Officer featuring free food aboard ship

The best part of the location for travelers is that eating at Shaq’s restaurant aboard the luxury liner is that it is free. The arrangement with Carnival Cruise line is similar to Guy’s Burger Joint, owned by Guy Fieri.

The two establishments, however, will not be in direct competition. Big Chicken will feature side items, as well as chicken sandwiches. For breakfast, patrons will be able to savor chicken and egg biscuits, the Sentinel pointed out.

Brainstorming inspired adding Big Chicken on liner

Christine Duffy is the Carnival Cruise Line President. She explained how Big Chicken was determined to have a home on the Radiance.

The company was brainstorming with Shaq about his role as the Chief Fun Officer (CFO) when they also started talking about various things the company and its CFO could do as a team. The topic of Big Chicken entered the discussion.

Fried chicken a first for the cruise ship company

Duffy said that Carnival “never had a fried chicken concept on our ships.” The company believes that its guests will make it quite popular.

Well, yeah! Who has not traveled from home and yearned for something that is readily recognizable and often thought of as a comfort food? Mostly everyone around the globe has at some point wanted that certain something that just hits the spot and tastes familiar.

Restaurant located in food court near pool

Big Chicken will be among additional food choices within the ship’s at-sea food court.

Another plus for its location is that the food court is near the pool area on the upper deck. Fun times and fun food! Shaq is taking his position as CFO quite seriously. He has his mind set on delivering fun for guests to enjoy.

The menu aboard the radiance is likely to feature sandwich names that play off of Shaq’s name. His Las Vegas location, for example, has the “Shaq Attack.” The sandwich is served with “pepper jack cheese, jalapeno slaw, avocado and spicy chipotle barbecue sauce,” the Sentinel reported.

Restaurateur knows what it takes to ‘make people happy’

When Food & Wine magazine does a write-up about chicken sandwiches it indicates that more good things are likely to come from the onboard restaurant. The publication recognizes that Shaq “knows how to make people happy.”

In describing his restaurant to Food & Wine, Shaq said that Big Chicken is a “mixture between Cane’s and Chick-fil-A.” Chicken and has “always” been included in his “championship diet.” Now, his goal is to “introduce it to the rest of the world.”

CFO will not eat turkey

He feels passionate about chicken, as Food & Wine noted. When his mother cooked a turkey for “everyone else,” she made fried chicken for Shaq. Even while everyone else has turkey, he stands firm.

He said, “I won’t eat it. I’ll eat fried chicken.”

Be sure to follow Blasting News for the latest information and also check out Shaq’s Facebook Watch reality show entitled “Big Chicken Shaq.” If dessert is up your alley after reading about food, a delicious red velvet ice cream recipe could help satisfy cravings. There is also a recipe for simple red velvet molten cake.
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