Shaq’s Big Chicken restaurant opening in Lake City

Can you dig it?

It looks like one of Lake City’s newest restaurant’s, Big Chicken, will come to the area bearing connections with NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal.

According to its website, Big Chicken is backed by O’Neal, who is partnering with JRS Hospitality, a Las Vegas-based ownership group and Authentic Brands Group, a multi-national, brand development, marketing and entertainment company, for the eatery.

Big Chicken, which was founded in 2018, fuses O’Neal’s home-cooked childhood favorites with today’s trending flavors.

The restaurant’s menu will feature items from crispy chicken sandwiches and chicken tenders, as well as crusted macaroni and cheese and hand-crafted ice cream milkshakes.

The restaurant will be located in the Gateway Crossing commercial development, on NW Centurion Court at the Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 90 interchange.

The building was initially constructed as a Rib Crib restaurant, but was later named as the site for Florida’s first Big Chicken. Panhandle Restaurant Group (PRG Brands), from Panama City, is the owner/franchisee of the Lake City Big Chicken location.

Troy Crews, Columbia County Building and Zoning Director, said the revised plans for the restaurant were approved on June 22, 2023. It was changed to a Big Chicken at the end of November.

Crews said he was not given any information regarding why the restaurant changed from a Rib Crib to Big Chicken.

“There were no major structural changes. These were mainly cosmetic — signage, seating, interior decorations and that sort of thing,” Crews said of the plan revisions. “I’ve had no plan about an opening date.”

While no opening date has been released for the eatery, the restaurant’s website indicates that the restaurant is is coming in early 2024, while two other locations, one in Orlando and the other in Doral, are scheduled to be opened by mid-year.

Big Chicken is currently located or has planned openings in 16 states, as well as on the Carnival Cruise Line.

The Big Chicken restaurant in Lake City will be a 3,409 square-foot structure and have 102 seats. The restaurant will offer eat-in or take-out services and its drive through will be located on the western side of the building.

The restaurant was under construction when Columbia County and the City of Lake City were sharing permitting duties. The county building and zoning department was only handling the permitting and inspections, while the site/zoning approval was completed by the city’s growth management department.

Anthony Wilkinson Construction is building the Big Chicken restaurant as well as the Sonic restaurant across the street from the site.

Crews noted he hasn’t seen work crews at either site recently.  He said the Sonic restaurant is closer to being completed and was inspected on Dec. 13, but needs additional work for a permanent power inspection.

With no recent work at the Big Chicken site, Crews said the restaurant is facing a deadline.

“Unless they have an approved inspection, if it lies dormant as it is at the moment, their permit will expire on May 15,” he said, noting if they request inspections, when they get an approved inspection it extends the permit life by six months. “They are at the stage with the construction right now that they would probably have a permanent power inspection and then a final (inspection). They’re fairly close as far as the required inspections.”

If Big Chicken goes past the inspection deadline, they could reapply for another permit through the City of Lake City’s Building Department since the city has resumed responsibility of its jurisdiction for building permits.

Crews said it’s not a common thing to have a restaurant constructed and then it be swapped to become the building for another restaurant, which is the result of an ownership change.

“We’re not in contact with the actual owners. We have only dealt with the contractor,” he said.

The next inspection for Big Chicken would be its permanent power inspection, which has not yet been requested.