Shaquille O’Neal is a savvy business man. The former Los Angeles Lakers star had deals with numerous companies including Icy Hot, Arizona and Walmart over the years but one company he once had a deal with was Starbucks.
In a recent interview, the former NBA MVP sat down and talked about his biggest missed opportunity as a businessman and it came when he was faced with an offer from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
Following from Yahoo’s Graham Besinger.
“My agent calls me up and says Howard Schultz wants to do business with you. I’m like, ‘Coffee? Ugh.’ Because growing up in my household, I had never seen a black person drink coffee. So it was my thought process that black people didn’t drink coffee. … In my house, it was always sweet tea or hot chocolate.”
O’Neal went on to recall his meeting with Schultz.
“Howard says, ‘Shaq, I want to give you the opportunity to go in with me and open up these Starbucks franchises in African-American communities.’ And I’m always a guy that, if I don’t believe in it, can’t do it. Will never do it. No amount of money can make me endorse something I’m not 100-percent behind. So I looked the great Howard Schultz in the face, and I said, ‘Black people don’t drink coffee, sir. I don’t think it’s gonna work.’ You should’ve seen his face.”
I’m not too sure if there are statistics to back up Shaq’s claim but who knows, maybe someone will draft something up at their local Starbucks sooner than you think.
