Shaquille O’Neal became a force in the business world the same way he was a force under the hoop. The Diesel has invested his money into a ton of franchises, including restaurant chains like Papa John’s and Krispy Kreme. However, doughnuts are a little bit more important to Shaq than pizza, so much so that he’s a little bit more strict on his stores when they make a mistake.
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Back in 2019, O’Neal spoke about his affinity for doughnuts, specifically Krispy Kreme during a chat with the Wall Street Journal. “I was introduced to it in college, and been in love with it ever since,” he admitted. It was in that same interview that he revealed that Krispy Kreme stood out as his favorite franchise that he owned — and his reason behind it was simple. “Cause I like doughnuts,” he exclaimed.
Another thing that Shaq likes is giving his customers a good experience. He told Forbes in 2020 that he is a firm believer in the “customer is always right” motto. The motto is so important to The Diesel that he even makes his Krispy Kreme stores give out free doughnuts to customers who complain about their orders being wrong.
“At my Krispy Kreme in Atlanta, if you mess somebody’s order up and the customer complains, they get a free box of doughnuts. Period,” the 15-time All-Star said at the time. That’s quite a lot of doughnuts, but also a strong give-back to the community. And that’s what Shaq cares about. The people. In the same interview, he revealed how Jeff Bezos completely changed his way of thinking about what he invests in.
“He [Bezos] said that he invests in things that are going to change peoples’ lives. And I said, you know what, I’m gonna start doing that. And when I did that, every time I invest in something it works,” stated the NBA legend. The advice played into his customer-appealing ideology. “So, I don’t always think about just the money, but instead “is this going to help people in their lives?”
One of the NBA legend’s Krispy Kreme stores once burned down — and he has his suspicions as to what happened
Surprisingly one of Shaq’s Krispy Kreme locations in Atlanta burned down in 2021…twice. The incident costs the former Laker over $1.4 million to repair it. During an appearance on the Full Send podcast later that year, he discussed what happened on both occasions.
“The first one was believed to be arson. The second one was believed to be some homeless people,” said Shaq, who confirmed that he wasn’t certain about the second fire and was just speculating. However, he did knock home another point about refusing to press charges against the homeless if it turned out to be true.
“My thing is, I’m not gonna be putting charges on homeless people. They were just trying to stay warm.” The kind-heartedness from the four-time NBA Champion is as sweet as the sweet glazed doughnuts his Krispy Kreme franchises specialize in.
