---
title: "Big Chicken’s Founder Shaquille O’Neal Honored with Distinguished 2023 MVP Award from Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/c4d96a5c-3d65-4def-9639-cd16ea45224a
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20230517_big_chickens_founder_shaquille_oneal_honored_with_distinguished_2023_mvp_aw.html
category: "Chicken"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Chicken"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2023-05-17T12:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T21:42:12.400Z
image: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1568901346375-23c9450c58cd?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop
---

# Big Chicken’s Founder Shaquille O’Neal Honored with Distinguished 2023 MVP Award from Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine

**TL;DR:** Big Chicken's founder Shaquille O'Neal received the Influencer Award for Former Pro Athlete from Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine. O'Neal is a franchisee with Papa Johns and Krispy Kreme, and a franchisor with Big Chicken.

*originally published in Franchising.com on 2023-05-17. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20230517_big_chickens_founder_shaquille_oneal_honored_with_distinguished_2023_mvp_aw.html).*

## Story

The winners, chosen from a long list of multi-unit franchisee nominees, are the country’s best and brightest power operators, innovators, and creative thinkers who have demonstrated outstanding performance in growing both their organization and their brands.;

O’Neal shared his gratitude to Franchise Update Media for the award in a video shared on LinkedIn by Big Chicken.

“Thank you, Franchise Update Media, Gary and Therese, for this award,” said O’Neal. “I love the franchising business. I’m a franchisee with Papa Johns and Krispy Kreme, and I’m a franchisor with Big Chicken. I’ve learned so much about the business, and I’ve met many great people through the franchising world. Thank you, again, for this award. This means a lot to me. The future of franchising is bright, and I’m so proud to be a part of it.”

This year’s outstanding multi-unit franchisees each were presented with a coveted MVP Award at the recent Multi-Unit Franchising Conference, held April 25–28 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas and attended by 2,000 attendees.

Judges searched for the best, brightest, and most inspiring multi-unit franchisees before selecting 12 category winners. Each winner will be profiled in Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine.

“It’s incredible to see my boss, Shaquille O’Neal, recognized by Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine,” said Big Chicken CEO Josh Halpern. “He loves the restaurant franchising industry tremendously and has been such a major part of several franchise systems. Plus he’s been both a franchisee and franchisor, so this award is well-deserved. BIG congrats from all of us at Big Chicken, Shaquille! We are proud to work in this great company that you brought to life.”

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Multi-Unit (company)
- Papa Johns (company)
- multi-unit franchisee (topic)
- Krispy Kreme (company)
- award (topic)
- Big Chicken (company)
- Shaquille O'Neal (person)
- Josh Halpern (person)
- franchising business (topic)

---
Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20230517_big_chickens_founder_shaquille_oneal_honored_with_distinguished_2023_mvp_aw.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/c4d96a5c-3d65-4def-9639-cd16ea45224a).