by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
January 20, 2026
‘I wished to provide you with one thing completely different…. I wished to create a sweet that you would play with earlier than you eat it.’
NBA Corridor of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has gone down as one of many biggest facilities of all time to have bounced a ball on the basketball court docket. Submit-playing days, he’s slowly rising as one of many biggest entrepreneurs ever to personal a number of companies. The TNT analyst has just lately launched Shaq-A-Licious SLAMS, his newest product from his partnership with The Hershey Firm.
Shaq-A-Licious SLAMS comes with three crunchy gummy balls in watermelon, strawberry, and orange flavors. As an added bonus, a chewy, bitter mango ring can also be included. Along with his record-playing days behind him, his focus has been on constructing an empire that may rival anybody, particularly in relation to the sports activities world.
BLACK ENTERPRISE acquired the chance to talk with, in keeping with Shaq himself, the “world’s greatest child” about the brand new product and the way his mindset helps him succeed within the enterprise world.
The light big (now that he doesn’t must play ball anymore) began his alliance with The Hershey Firm in 2024 when he launched the Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies to the world. He said that he visited Hershey, Pennsylvania, “so many instances,” to ensure the product reached some extent that it was prepared for public consumption, that, although the gummies could have been good, he had his sport face on in the identical manner he did whereas enjoying with the legendary Kobe Bryant.
“After I’m coping with the younger scientist that’s making the sweet, I am going on basketball mode. Identical factor I did with Kobe Bryant, ‘You nice, however I’m not gonna let you know you’re nice.’ So possibly you’re pushing your self to do some extra, so, yeah, I’m consuming them, and I’m like, rattling, that is good, however I can’t inform them what’s good. ‘I don’t prefer it.’ And that’s only a check to see if he can provide you with one thing higher. So, a pair weeks later, uh, it’s shut, however I don’t prefer it, and, like, the younger child, he wasn’t tender, like, he took pleasure in his work.’
That mentality pressured the younger scientist to attempt tougher to make the “world’s greatest child,” content material with the product. After six or seven tries, he hit the mark, and the gummies had been launched with Shaq’s satisfaction. The world agreed because it grew to become a profitable launch, even profitable a number of awards within the course of.
Though it was Shaq’s first product with Hershey, he didn’t have a particular quantity objective, however he knew it needed to be an important working relationship to be deemed profitable.
“I discovered a very long time in the past that whenever you concentrate on a relationship, every little thing else will fall in place. I by no means are available in and say, I’m gonna promote 20 million luggage. For me, a thousand luggage is profitable. However, business-wise, for those who acquired the fitting associate, you bought the fitting distribution, you bought the fitting location within the shops, you bought the fitting advertising behind it. Individuals will see it.”
So, this time round, it needed to be a unique providing.
“I wished to provide you with one thing completely different. And so we got here up with the Shaq SLAM. There’s, like, a play on slams, and there’s three little gummy balls with a bitter ring, and, you realize, I wished to create a sweet that you would play with earlier than you eat it.”
He additionally defined why he determined to do a cope with an organization higher identified for its chocolate to launch a gummy product. Rising up on Hershey merchandise made it simpler for him to develop into a associate with the favored model. Loving the sweet as a baby and into maturity simply made it appear proper.
“I grew up on Hershey’s on all their candies, and I really like all their candies. So, you realize, the truth that they’re doing this enterprise with me. You already know, it’s like, they’re placing me on their crew. I can’t allow them to down, so, you realize, I knew we had been gonna achieve success, however I don’t have a look at success in numbers, even although the numbers are nice. “
However, inquiring minds need to know why he went with gummies when it may have been chocolate, laborious candies, or anything?
After trying on the many classes of choices the corporate introduced, the CEO requested him what he wished to decide on earlier than he left the preliminary assembly.
“Man, I used to like gummies rising up in Germany. ‘He’s like, That’s what we’re gonna do.’”
And the remainder is historical past!
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