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Perry Rogers, CEO and founding father of sports management and company consulting firm PRP, has managed each celebrity athletes and Hollywood stars. He additionally constructed a profitable restaurant firm, JRS Hospitality, with many sizzling spots on the Las Vegas Strip.
These experiences ready him to accomplice together with his client Shaquille O’Neal to create a really larger-than-life restaurant model. Big Chicken is a testomony to collaboration, imaginative and prescient and enjoyable.
Associated: Shaquille O’Neal Used an Unconventional Strategy to Start His Chicken Restaurant — Here’s Why It Worked
Constructing a legacy for Shaquille O’Neal
The story of Huge Rooster started with a query. “Shaquille got here to me in 2017 and stated, ‘You have constructed this large restaurant firm. What have you ever constructed for me?'” Perry Rogers informed Shawn Walchef, host of Restaurant Influencers, on the 2024 Huge Rooster franchisee convention in Las Vegas.
O’Neal wasn’t simply on the lookout for an funding—he wished a legacy. Rogers and his crew started working, creating an idea that actually mirrored O’Neal’s character.
“We considered what matches Shaquille, what displays his values, his persona and got here up with Huge Rooster,” Rogers says.
The primary launch was in Las Vegas in 2018. They spent two years refining the idea earlier than increasing additional. Regardless of his in depth expertise, Rogers admits the early days of Huge Rooster had been a studying curve.
“Our [other] eating places had been all full-service, big-volume operations. This was totally different,” he explains. Fast-casual dining was an entire new ballgame.
Even with meticulous planning, the primary location was filled with surprising challenges. “We bought plenty of issues mistaken — an excessive amount of area, too many seats, even the design,” Rogers says. However these hurdles turned alternatives for development. “In the event you have a look at life as a steady enchancment journey, it is not an enormous threat to fail.”
Associated: He Discovered His Favorite Sandwich Shop in College. Now He Runs It – and Has 155 Locations.
Embracing new media
Rogers and his crew knew from the beginning that Huge Rooster was greater than only a restaurant. It was a stage meant for storytelling.
Impressed by O’Neal’s fearless strategy to enterprise and branding, they launched a Fb Watch collection referred to as Constructing in Public. Followers may watch the behind-the-scenes means of constructing Huge Rooster in real-time.
“Shaquille is all about being genuine and clear,” Rogers says. “If you’re prepared to indicate the ups and downs, it builds belief along with your viewers. Folks can see that you just’re not afraid to fail, and that creates a robust connection along with your clients.”
Spreading your model on each beneficial media platform is a full-time job. The Huge Rooster crew needed to be taught the nuances of a fast-casual idea, together with its measurement, area, theme and product combine. Nevertheless, they remained dedicated to fixed enchancment and iteration.
Constructing in public taught them about themselves and the model, in addition to how one can use social media successfully. By the point they had been able to scale, they felt assured that they’d a product clients actually liked.
Associated: Her Restaurant Business Is Worth $100 Million — Here’s Her Unconventional Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
For Rogers, collaboration is essential to Huge Rooster’s success. He credit O’Neal’s daring imaginative and prescient and authenticity because the core of their id. “Shaquille seems at life like, ‘If my intentions are proper, I need not fear,'” Rogers stated. Ultimately, issues did fall into place, however they wanted assist.
Hiring Josh Halpern as CEO was an enormous turning level. “We wanted somebody who knew what they had been doing,” Rogers says. Halpern’s experience allowed Huge Rooster to scale responsibly, guaranteeing the model stayed true to its mission whereas increasing the enterprise.
Huge Rooster has grown considerably since its first location, with home and worldwide expansions on the horizon. “We simply opened our first outlet within the UK, in Manchester, and we’re constructing in Honduras in 2025,” Rogers says.
On the coronary heart of Huge Rooster’s success is its give attention to hospitality. “The shops that do properly are those the place the homeowners are greeting the purchasers,” Rogers says. “If the purchasers do not feel that Shaquille love, there is a disconnect.”
For Rogers, the restaurant industry is about greater than enterprise — it is a calling. “If you do not need the ball of internet hosting folks, do not get on this trade,” he says. However for many who love creating pleasure by means of meals and hospitality, the rewards are unmatched.
As Huge Rooster continues to develop, Rogers stays centered on honoring O’Neal’s imaginative and prescient and crafting that legacy. “My job is to construct the enterprise that Shaquille needs to have,” he says. With every new restaurant, they don’t seem to be simply serving meals — they’re creating moments of connection and neighborhood.
Associated: This Chef Went From Dreaming of Michelin Stars to Building an Audience as a YouTube Star
About Restaurant Influencers
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Toast — Powering Profitable Eating places. Study extra about Toast.
Associated: After Co-Founding a Successful Restaurant Group, He Turned to Tech to Simplify the Checkout Experience
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