Hospitality: the second career of the celebrity...

Surfing the internet recently, I came across a past press release from the Learning and Skills Council in which they say that for celebrities looking to branch out beyond the red carpet and/or terrorising jungle wildlife, hospitality comes top of the list. 

The trifecta of Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger brought this into the limelight when they launched their very own Planet Hollywood chain in typical gung-ho fashion back in the 1990s.  Robert de Niro co-owns both the TriBeCa Grill in Manhattan and the Greenwich Hotel; Alice Cooper owns a sports bar and grill where customers can purchase Wings of Mass Destruction for their delectation; and, fabulously, John Malkovitch owns the Big Sleep Hotel, an inexpensive and retro-style place in Eastbourne, Cardiff and Cheltenham.  Not to mention that ex-Eastender, Ricky Butcher is not only a cordon bleu chef, but also moved to France and wrote a cookery book.  In fact it seems, if you are a bona fide celeb the question isn’t, do you have a restaurant?  It’s why don’t you?

So why is hospitality and catering such a draw to the A-Z list crowd?  Firstly, there are those who do it for the genuine love of food.  As stated previously, Sid Owen (aka Ricky-off-Eastenders) moved to France to better explore his passion for cookery and run a restaurant.  Paul Newman created his Newman’s Own brand and according to his close friend A.E. Hotchner, he was more proud of his salad dressing than his movies.

For others. it could be a natural knack and desire to entertain.    Perhaps it’s also the fact that, having spent so many hours wining and dining in the top end bars and restaurants, your average celebrity will look around one day and think, ‘I fancy trying my hand at this.’  For those with many millions to invest, places to eat, drink and sleep would seem to be a sensible investment and they have the money and connections to design the establishments to their exact specification and market them effectively.  A celebrity is always ahead of the game in terms of luring in the customers.  Looking over the reviews of Jennifer Lopez’ now closed Pasadena restaurant Madre’s, it seems as though the majority of customers decided to try it out because ‘it’s J-Lo’s place’.  Who even needs an advertising campaign?  Once word gets out that the latest Tinseltown resident is opening a grill somewhere in California, you can bet that people will be queuing round the block to get in.

Do you think that celebrities getting in on the hospitality act is a good thing, or potentially damaging if those stars with no business sense go barrelling into opening a glitzy restaurant without considering overheads?  (Britney Spears ill-fated restaurant Nyla closed owing almost $400,000 dollars and leaving a trail of bad service and bad food in its wake).  Is this trend bringing much needed employment and revenue to the industry, or is it more of a plaything for people with too much money?