Seems we’ve been having a lot of news on our man’s restaurant chain, Big Chicken. For this week’s installment, a new arrival in the midwest, and some cool news for the newest outlet in the company. Read on…
The new outlet for Big Chicken is in … drumroll please … Chicago. The new store is on Higgins Road in the Rosemont suburb, which is right next door to Chicago O’Hare Airport. Doors are scheduled to open Tuesday with a couple of special events to mark the occasion.
Now, as of this writing, there’s no news as to if the big man himself will show up for the ribbon-cutting and grand opening party. O’Neal was there, live and in person, at a recent Big Chicken opening in the Houston area. If you saw that post here on the ShaqFu Radio blog, you know that it went so (SO!) well, that it basically shut down the entire surrounding area. So many people showed up to meet and greet with the big fella that the local fire department had to shut it down for a time, the crowds were so overwhelming!
So will that happen in Chicagoland? No telling. Stay tuned to the ShaqFu Radio blog, and we’ll have any news when it happens. But as mentioned, there are a couple of special things going on at this store to mark the opening.
We’re guessing the line has already started outside the store at this point. If you’ve ever seen the grand opening of a Chick-fil-A store, that’s almost always what happens. People literally camped out in the parking lot of the soon-to-be-open store. Why? Well, there’s almost always some kind of special prizes for the very first in line, the first in the door when the new store opens.
And that’s what’s happening at the new Big Chicken, too. The first 34 people in the door (Shaq’s uni number, of course!) will get free food for a year! Each of the 34 will get one Big Chicken sandwich of their liking for 52 weeks. Pretty sweet! So good luck, if you’re already there in line or camped out on the doorstep.
Now, if you can’t make the grand opening of this particular store, word from the Big Chicken HQ is that another Chicagoland store is in the works, and should be open to chicken-sandwich-loving folks later this year. We’ll keep you posted, of course.
Currently, Big Chicken has more than a dozen locations already open. They’re mostly on the East and West Coasts, and some are in interesting locations, like sports arenas and on board Carnival Cruise Lines ships at sea.
According to the Big Chicken website, the food “fuses O’Neal’s home-cooked childhood favorites with today’s trending flavors.” There’s a lot to like, for sure, including giant-sized (dare we say “Shaq-sized”?) chicken sandwiches to mac and cheese and sweet potato fries, plus lots more.
Now, with this new store in Chicago, there’s another special feature, at least for the grand opening. If you’re from that part of the country, you probably know about local fav Stan’s Donuts.
For the grand opening, this particular Big Chicken is cooking up a “Spicy Chicken Stanwich,” which features Nashville Hot Chicken and Big Chicken sauce on a Stan’s maple glazed donut. Sounds totally awesome!
See you at the Grand Opening, Chicagoland. Enjoy your new Big Chicken!
