In a similar to Dubai style, one of the most popular trends in Hollywood is to start your own business. Once celebrities reach the top, they begin to look for an extra source of income. In a similar way when Dubai’s expats land a high paying job and start getting more money than they ever did in the past, they start searching for small business opportunities.
However, unlike the majority Dubai’s expats startups, Hollywood’s celebrity startups are mostly successful. That is mainly thanks to the name and the fame behind the brand, in addition to a substantial funding. However, sometimes even the celebrity status cannot make a bad business investment float. Here are some of the most known celebrity startup failures.
The Kardashians and the Kardashian Card
A while ago, the Kardashian sisters tried their luck in financial services-related business. They introduced their own credit card – the Kardashian Card. The service was targeting mainly young consumers. At first, things started well and many people were thrilled to own a credit card with the faces of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney. However, not long after that card holders became enraged by the super high fees that came with the service. The Kardashian sisters claimed they were aware of that and quickly left their startup behind.
Britney Spears and Her Restaurant
Back in 2002, young star Britney Spears opened her own restaurant in New York called Nyla. Initially it specialized in Southern style dishes. However, things got ugly when clients started to complain of bad food, health violations and poor service. Spears decided to fix things by replacing the Southern cuisine with Italian food. Despite that, the singer had to eventually shut the place down and blame everything on the restaurant’s managers.
Jennifer Lopez and Yet Another Celebrity Restaurant
Around the same time Britney Spears opened her restaurant in New York, Jennifer Lopez decided to do the same in California. However, her failure was to charge extremely high prices. In addition, consumers were not very happy with the taste of the food. Nevertheless, the place stayed open until 2008. Lopez, however, did not share why she decided to close it. Maybe she was too busy with her numerous clothing lines. Around the same time, the singer-actress was working on different fashion lines with names like Sweetface and JustSweet. These startups of the star also failed.
Hulk Hogan and Pastamania
It seems that, for some reason, celebrities prefer to invest in restaurants. This is by the way, also very promising business in Dubai, providing you open in popular locations. In the 1990’s, Hulk Hogan opened a fast-food restaurant which offered mainly pasta. The dishes had special names, like Hulka-a-Roos and Hulk-U’s. Also, Hogan’s startup was financially supported by the World Wrestling Federation. Despite that, it had to shut down after just a few months. This is also the lifespan of many e-commerce businesses in Dubai.
Kim Basinger and Her Town
Restaurants, clothing lines, credit cards… the options are plenty for the rich and famous. That is why we wonder why actress Kim Basinger decided to invest her money in… a town. That’s right, Basinger bought the town in Georgia called Braselton. She kissed $20 million goodbye to get her hands on the town back in 1989. Her goal was to transform it into a popular travel destination. That, however, did not happen and she had to sell Braselton for $1 in 1993.
As you can see, bad startup ideas cannot be saved even by fame.
