Behind the ‘bite my head off’ jokes, Shaq figuratively did bite some heads off. Shaq-A-Licious had a massive promotion this month with a Times Square bash and a giant gummy cake of its namesake’s face. Getting there was no easy process. At least Shaquille O’Neal didn’t make it easy. The diehard Hershey’s fan had extremely high expectations from the chocolatier. And to perfect the final Shaq-a-licious result, he put the candymakers through a grind like he’s Pat Riley to Heat Shaq.

Speaking to Entrepreneur mag, Shaq detailed the steps involved in creating the final gummies. That included getting a mold of his life-size face to recreate bite-size goodness. “I had to put my face in some gummy plaster making unfamiliar faces: a smile, a frown, a straight face. And they copied it,” he said.

The toughest part was developing the six flavors. “Do you know how many gummies I had to taste test before we came up with the final product?” Not a dozen, or even a hundred. Shaq stated, “A million.”

O’Neal didn’t cut anyone in the Herhsey’s factory any slack, claiming, “If you’re a chemist working at a company like Hershey’s, obviously you have what it takes. So if I say no to the first batch, I know you’re going to step your game up. If I say no to the second batch, I know you’re still going to make it better. If I say no in the 10th batch? Now I know you’re pissed off. But they nailed it.”

The results are two versions of Shaq-shaped gummies – the original in peach, berry punch, and orange and the sour with ‘Diesel’ (pineapple), ‘The Big Cactus’ (mixed berry), and ‘The Big Shamrock’ (green watermelon).

Throughout the Shaq-A-Licious promotion, the 7’1″ ‘big kid’ said he had been a Hershey’s loyalist since the ’70s, living in a US military base in Germany. He had a very high bar for the $4 billion chocolatiers and a very strong principle for perfection.

Shaq stayed true to his advise

Shaquille O’Neal advised budding entrepreneurs via the magazine to do exactly what he did. “Before you succeed, you must first learn to fail. So after you fail, that program you had, delete it, write a new one and see how that goes.”

The multi-preneur reportedly met the development team at Hershey’s at Pennsylvania earlier this year. The official Shaq-A-Licious page shared Reels from his visits and it looked all fun and games. They gave him a specially made lab coat, hairnet and safety goggles. Shaq even tried to drink the gummy solution straight from the big mixing bowl.

It was well after the mould stage. So Shaq had the chance to pour the liquid candy into moulds of his face and get his hands sticky.

The Reels proved the Shaq-A-Licious tagline – from the biggest kid in the candy store – but behind the scenes, he was a big tyrant.

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