Southern California’s long-awaited $300M world-class venue, Acrisure Arena, will soon open its doors on December 14, ready to serve fans BIG food, BIG flavor, and BIG fun with Shaquille O’Neal-owned Big Chicken.
Located in the heart of Coachella Valley, Acrisure Arena is not only home to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL’s 32nd Franchise and the affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, but will also host a variety of sports, music, comedy, and family events, bringing year-round entertainment to the region. The arena also features an adjoining ice-skating facility, the Berger Foundation Iceplex, open to the community year-round to use as a gathering space and as the training center for the AHL team.
“We’ve been eagerly awaiting the Acrisure Arena opening alongside fans and are confident that the community is going to love the BIG flavor of our menu items,” says Josh Halpern, CEO of Big Chicken. “The opening marks our fifth arena location and third restaurant in California, and we look forward to continuing to delight fans with our craveable, quality product as we expand across the nation.”
Developed by Oak View Group (OVG), the largest builder of new arenas in the world, the arena will be more than 300,000 square feet and feature 11,000 capacity, including modern suites and four premium hospitality clubs. Additionally, the building will serve as a world-class venue providing a rehearsal space for artists launching major tours, a new routing model that will service the music needs on the West Coast, and the next major destination for artist residencies.
Big Chicken’s location at Acrisure Arena will be joining several other OVG properties, including ASU’s Mullett Arena, Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, the UBS Arena at Belmont Park in New York, and Austin’s Moody Center. Big Chicken offerings at the new Acrisure Arena include the M.D.E. Chicken (Shaq Sauce, chicken breast and B&B Pickles) and Uncle Jerome (Nashville hot chicken, mayo and pickles), in addition to other concessions items.
In addition to the arena locations, Big Chicken also has brick-and-mortar locations open in Las Vegas, the Greater Los Angeles region, the Dayton, Ohio region, and on three Carnival Cruise Ships, with more than 200 locations in its development pipeline.
The franchise investment has been designed to align with successful, multi-unit investors who want to become part of Shaquille’s dream team. Restaurant experience — whether traditional or not — is preferred, but not required. With significant interest from new owners, franchise investors will have the advantage to join a brand on the cusp of worldwide expansion.
