12 Failed Restaurants Started by Celebrities Who Bit Off More Than They Can Chew
![12 Failed Restaurants Started by Celebrities Who Bit Off More Than They Can Chew](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/5/4/903454_320x180.jpg)
Look, we’re not saying don’t try new things. What if you’re playing a wheelchair bound student in a Canadian teen drama, and you become one of the most successful hip hop artists of all time? It’s happened. Acting and rapping are at least under the same entertainment roof, but there’s no guarantee that both endeavors will be successful. It’d be like an electrician thinking they could easily be a good plumber too because both jobs take place under literal roofs. Rooves? No… It’s roofs. Weird.
There are plenty of successful crossover stories, and successful people don’t want to be pigeonholed. They’ve found success in, say, singing, so why wouldn’t they think they could recapture that magic in the food service industry? It could happen. As the ol’ cliche goes, most of them were probably waiters at some point, so maybe they thought that would translate to owning and operating a successful restaurant. Or maybe they thought their fame alone could hawk the product. However bad it may be. Either way, here are 12 failed restaurants started by celebrities who bit off more than they could chew.
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What would you expect from someone who likes his steak well done and slopped in ketchup?
![Donald Trump's Exclusive Introduction worst TRUMP business idea STEAKS THE WORLD'S GREATEST STEAK ever (maybe). Trump Steaks were (for some reason) sold at the Sharper Image. Sharper Image CEO Jerry Levin called it a horrible business idea, saying, We literally sold almost no steaks. If we sold $50,000 worth of steaks in total, I'd be surprised. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/5/902615.jpg)
Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock,
Sharper Image
Make it rain! No, not like that, Justin.
![Justin Timberlake got out before the literal s*** storm. Destino was an Italian eatery in Midtown Manhattan that opened in 2006. Luckily, Timberlake left the business before it was shut down in 2013, when illegal sewage pipes above the restaurant burst and covered the place in human waste... twice! CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/4/902614.jpg)
Director? Hell yes. Restaurateur? Oh hell no!
![Steven Spielberg served subs... in a sub! Get it? The highest-grossing director of all time opened two locations of Dive! (a submarine-themed sub sandwich restaurant). The over-priced, mediocre food saw them close within a few years. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/2/902612.jpg)
Who wants to slam fish’n’chips with supermodels around?!
![Supermodels inspire diets! Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Elle MacPherson, and Naomi Campbell opened NYC's Fashion Cafe in 1994. Supermodels didn't make anyone hungry, and while it was good for photo ops, the business itself bled out over the next three years. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/0/9/902609.jpg)
Denis Makarenko/Shutterstock,
Everett Collection/Shutterstock,
Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock,
Denis Makarenko/Shutterstock
The SNHD shut down SHe?! You’ll see.
![Eva Longoria's SHe was SHut down. In 2012, she opened SHe, a female-focused restaurant with smaller steaks and mirrors on the menu (to fix your makeup). SHe focused too much on the style and the South Nevada Health District shut it down for 21 health code violations in 2014. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/0/8/902608.jpg)
Hulk Hogan
![CRACKED No amount of muscle- shaped noodles could save Hulk Hogan's Pastamania. In 1995, Hogan opened one of what he advertised as a chain of food court pasta restaurants in Minnesota's Mall of America. Despite amazing menu options like Hulk-A-Roos, its L flagship location didn't ANGEL even last a year.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/0/6/902606.jpg)
Maybe fourth time’s a charm, Flav?
![Flavor Flav had many failed chicken joints. Не opened Flav's Fried Chicken in lowa in 2011, but it closed in four months due to bounced checks and bad business decisions. Не tried House of Flavor and Flavor Flav's Chicken & Ribs in 2012, and both restaurants were closed by July 2013. 2 CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/1/902611.jpg)
Well, what if the next two months were great, Jermaine?!
![Jermaine Dupri gave up on Café Dupri (and its employees). Не opened the creole-inspired restaurant in 2005, but closed it in 2008. For the past two months business has been down, and if the business isn't making money, I feel it's a smart move to shut it down. Workers said their checks had been bouncing for weeks. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/0/7/902607.jpg)
Do you New Yorkers like Cajun? No? How ’bout Italian? No? Okay, bye.
![Britney Spears gave up on the food, then the restaurant as a whole. NYLA was named for New York and Louisiana (her home state) because it served Cajun food in NYC. After bad reviews and health code violations, they changed the menu to Italian. Spears distanced herself, and it closed for good in under a year. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/0/902610.jpg)
Between kids, parents, and employees, no one liked this place.
![Jessica Biel had a kids restaurant that excluded kids. Biel opened Au Fudge in 2016, with the idea of being a Soho House for kids. The exclusivity thing wasn't a good influence for kids, so she scrapped that. As simply a family restaurant, the staff sued her for missing wages, and it closed in 2018. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/0/5/902605.jpg)
Rebrand all you want, fellas. It just ain’t workin’.
![Stephen and William Baldwin's restaurant had three names in two years. In 1999, Alaia (named for Stephen's daughter) was a Mediterranean restaurant that lasted less than a year before the menu changed to seafood and it was renamed Luahn. Then Luahn became Society 5, and closed for good in 2000. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/0/4/902604.jpg)
He had the recipe for success all along.
![Stick with what you know, Ludacris! After his Asian-fusion restaurant Straits failed in 2012, he opened Chicken-n- Beer (named after his 2003 album) at the Atlanta airport in November 2016. It's still going strong. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/1/3/902613.jpg)