Franchising

Big Chicken dribbling into Arkansas

Photo: Big Chicken

December 11, 2023

Shaquille O'Neal-owned Big Chicken is opening in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Jan. 3, at 2190 MLK Blvd., as part of a 40-unit deal with Northwest Arkansas Restaurant Group, a sister company to Panhandle Restaurant Group. Husband-wife duo Chris and Amy McMillan will own the restaurant with Rusty Enfinger, Clay Moser and Ronnie Brewer Jr., a former NBA player and current assistant coach to the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team.

"We're absolutely thrilled to bring Big Chicken to Fayetteville and are eagerly awaiting to open our doors in November," Amy McMillan said in a company press release. "After meeting (CEO) Josh (Halpern) and the entire Big Chicken team, we knew that we made the right decision. We can't wait to connect with the Fayetteville community and bring BIG fun and BIG flavor throughout the city."

The McMillans are multi-brand operators with a portfolio of restaurants spanning across multiple regions of the country.

"We were ecstatic to have such esteemed restaurant operators like Amy and Chris join Big Chicken," Halpern said in the release. "Beyond their impressive ownership portfolio, their love for the QSR industry carries through in everything that they do. This is just the start of BIG things for Big Chicken in Arkansas."

With 300-plus locations in development nationwide for the brand, Big Chicken has locations open in Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Seattle; Houston; Gilbert, Arizona; Rosemont, Illinois and in the Dayton, Ohio region, as well as in metro-New York's UBS Arena, The Comcast Center in Philadelphia, The Moody Center in Austin, ASU's Mullett Arena, Palm Springs' Acrisure Arena, St. Louis's Busch Stadium, Kansas City International Airport and on three Carnival Cruise ships.