Maryland Market Entry
Big Chicken, the fast-casual chicken concept co-founded by Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal and backed by Craveworthy Brands, Authentic Brands Group, and JRS Hospitality, opened its first standalone Maryland location August 8 in Gambrills, expanding a systemwide footprint that now exceeds 40 units with dozens more in development across North America.
The Waugh Chapel Towne Centre site — positioned in the Baltimore suburbs and within reach of the broader DMV corridor — is the brand's first traditional storefront in the state. Big Chicken had previously operated at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, giving the concept a proved read on local consumer demand before committing to an area development footprint.
The Franchisee Profile
Leading the Gambrills unit is Pratik Patel, a multi-unit QSR operator with more than 15 years of hospitality experience and an existing portfolio spanning Howard and Anne Arundel counties. The area development agreement structure — pairing an experienced local operator with a growth-stage brand — is a playbook increasingly common in fast-casual chicken, where established QSR franchisees are diversifying away from legacy burger and pizza royalty streams toward higher-differentiation concepts.
"Gambrills is a special place, and it's the right fit to bring something new that matches its energy," said Patel. CEO Josh Halpern framed the unit as a template: "The right place, the right partner and a whole lot of BIG flavor — that's how we grow."
Menu and LTO Activity
The Gambrills opening coincides with a systemwide menu initiative Big Chicken calls "Big Dip Energy" — a rotating lineup of limited-time dipping sauces dropping monthly. The inaugural LTO for the Maryland market is a Root Beer BBQ dip, designed to generate trial frequency and social-media engagement across the brand's daypart mix. The core menu anchors on stacked chicken sandwiches including The Shaq Attack and The Ultimate, loaded tenders, hand-spun milkshakes, and Shaq Snacks — crispy tenders served on garlic toast with bold toppings.
Big Chicken's channel strategy spans non-traditional venues — arenas, airports, and cruise ships — alongside conventional inline and end-cap storefronts. That venue diversification reduces dependence on any single real-estate format and supports brand awareness in high-traffic captive environments before operators open standalone units in surrounding trade areas, a development cadence the Gambrills opening exemplifies.
The fast-casual chicken segment remains one of the most competitive in foodservice, with established players pressing unit growth aggressively. For emerging brands like Big Chicken, franchisee quality and market sequencing are critical unit-economics levers — and pairing a new-market entry with an operator who already runs multiple QSR locations in the same county limits execution risk considerably. Operators and multi-unit developers tracking franchise development trends and fast-casual chicken growth will find the Gambrills model instructive as the brand accelerates its traditional-storefront pipeline.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.