Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most recognizable names in the world of professional basketball. However, not everyone knows that O’Neal could have become one of the first Starbucks franchisees in the ‘hood’. O’Neal once revealed that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz once offered him a chance to open a Starbucks franchise in the inner city. But he turned down the offer, which later became a lucrative deal for someone else. Shaq opened up about how he turned down the Starbucks offer.

Shaq talked about how he didn’t want to take the Starbucks deal as no one in his family drank that much coffee. He believed in sticking with the culture and tossed the franchisee deal to Magic Johnson, who ended up making a fortune out of it. 

Shaquille O’Neal explains why he tossed the offer of a Starbucks franchise

Shaquille O’Neal explained that when Schultz offered him the opportunity to open a Starbucks location in the hood, he immediately thought it wouldn’t work. He didn’t know much about gentrification or the business potential of a Starbucks franchise in his neighborhood. He also didn’t think that the people from his neighborhood were avid coffee drinkers.

Recently, in the ‘I am the athlete’ podcast Shaquille O’Neal said, “The Starbucks story that’s a true story like I never seen anybody in my family drink coffee and he came up and said I’m putting Starbucks in the hood now you know the word I’m about to say I don’t know nothing about no Regional gentrification. Where I’m from they ain’t drinking no coffee it ain’t gonna work right. I’m like I didn’t know nothing about that he said it’s a Starbucks in the hood in the African-American man I’m like man that sh*t ain’t gonna work… But Magic has more knowledge than I did he did it.” 

Shaq went on and talked about his ‘Big chicken’ franchise. He said, “I started something called Big Chicken.” On being asked how many units Shaq owns, he replied, “I have three but I think I just franchise over 200 of them.” 

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Magic Johnson made fortune out of Starbucks in the hood

Magic Johnson, who had recently retired from the NBA at the time, saw potential in the Starbucks franchise opportunity that O’Neal had passed on. Johnson was also familiar with the inner city and understood the potential of such a business venture. He eventually opened a Starbucks location in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Los Angeles, which proved to be a huge success.

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Johnson’s Starbucks location was not only profitable but also helped to revitalize the neighborhood, which was in a state of decline. The success of his Starbucks franchise led to the opening of other businesses in the area, bringing more jobs and opportunities to the community.