Top 10 Failed Celebrity Businesses

Nowadays many celebrities are concentrating either show business or real business. Some open restaurants, others collaborate with designers and sell their clothes, and the thirds offer us dishes of various cuisines at their restaurants. While some are doing so successfully, others are not as lucky as their colleagues. Many show business representatives think that their fame and money can be guarantee of success, but after failing in business they are convinced that they were wrong. Mismanagement, lack of time, or simply just bad ideas can make their businesses vanish without a trace. Here are top ten celeb’s failed business ventures.

Britney Spears’ Nyla Restaurant

Britney Spears went bankrupt with her Nyla restaurant venture. Named after Spears’ two favorite places—New York and Louisiana—the restaurant Nyla opened in June 2002 in Manhattan’s Dylan Hotel. Initially the restaurant offered Cajun and Southern dishes such as Southern sushi and fried okra, with prices ranging from $16 to $26 a dish. However, due to terrible reviews, several health-code violations Nyla eventually began to suffer from financial problems. Nyla undertook a menu change attempting to avoid total bankrupt: the Southern cuisine was changed byf Italian dishes, but this was not enough to save the restaurant business – less than six months after it opened, Spears had to close Nyla.

Steven Spielberg’s Dive! Restaurant

Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg opened Dive! restaurant in 1994 in Los Angeles. It was a submarine-themed restaurant in the shape of a neon-yellow submersible. The diners were surrounded by metal catwalks, pressure gauges, and torpedo-shaped seats and every half-hour, the restaurant would simulate a ‘dive’ and red lights would flash around the room. In 1995 a second Dive! opened in Las Vegas. The menu focused on ‘submarine’ sandwiches and contained puns such as ‘sub-stantial salads’ and ‘sub-lime desserts’. The restaurant also got additional income by selling sea souvenirs. At the very beginning there was an obvious success, but the restaurant couldn’t manage with attracting repeat customers. The Los Angeles and the Las Vegas Dives! closed in 1999.

Nicky Hilton’s Nicky-O Hotels

As an heiress to the Hilton family, Nicky Hilton should have the inborn hotel business talent, but starting up her own hotel chain proved otherwise. Nicky’s first hotel business was planned as a 94-room luxury hotel on Miami’s Ocean Drive,with a second location planned for Chicago. The youngest of Hilton sisters even hired Roberto Cavalli to to design the hotel suites. The luxurious hotel was scheduled to open in 2007 but it never did because of endless delays. Nicky Hilton was later sued by her partner who said that Hilton had promised to promote the project and that she lied to partners.

Natalie Portman’s Vegan-Friendly Footwear

Ardent advocate for animal rights Natalie Portman launched her own vegan-friendly shoe line. It’s wide known fact that she only wears clothing and shoes that are not made of animal byproduct and Natalie decided to show an example to ordinary people. She collaborated with designer Te Casan to launch a vegan-friendly footwear line in early 2008. However, her shoes were pretty expensive with $200 for a pair, and shortly after, in December 2008, Te Casan closed shop due to failing sales.

The Kardashian Sisters’ The Kardashian Kard

In 2008 Kim Kardashian and her sisters Kourtney and Khloé launched their own pre-paid credit card, labelled The Kardashian Kard. The sisters said they were excited to create their very own financial product but very soon their thrill dissappeared after consumer advocates complained about the card’s extremely high fees. The Kardashian sisters were attacked for aiming the product at young adults and had to back out of their contract, sayind they didn’t know about the card’s high costs.

Heidi Montag’s Heidiwood Clothes Line

Heidi Montag own fashion line Heidiwood in 2008. Her clothes were sold at Anchor Blue stores priced between $10 to $60, and were designed for teenage girls. Unfortunately, the inexpensive clothes were described as frail and unwearble by critics. And only seven months after its launch, Heidiwood disappeared from Anchor Blue when the store’s management decided not to renew its contract with Montag.

Jennifer Lopez’s Madre’s Restaurant

Jennifer Lopez opened Madre’s (Spanish for mother), in 2002 in Pasadena, California. The restaurant offered Latin food with dishes priced between $30 and $50. But despitenegative reviews, Madre’s managed to last for six years and was closed in 2008.

But that’s not the only business failure of bootilicious J LO. Fashion industry was also severe to Jennifer as her clothing line JLO that was founded in 2003 was closed in 4 years due to failure to remain profitable. Her additional lines also didn’t find success: JustSweet(founded in 2003) closed after only a few seasons at retail; and Sweetface(2005), despite a revamp of the line, was halted in 2009.

Eva Longoria’s Beso Restaurant and Nightclub

In 2008, Desperate Housewives TV show actress Eva Longoria partnered with celebrity chef Todd English to open up Beso, a Latin steakhouse restaurant. It was pretty successful, and in 2009 Eva decided to open a one in Las Vegas with a restaurant and nightclub. But her Vegas nightclub reportedly was losing more than $76,000 a month and had gathered about $5.7 million in debt. In January, the nightclub filed for bankruptcy protection and eventually shut its doors. Nevertheless, Beso’s Hollywood location is still successful and open for business.

Kanye West’s Pastelle Clothing Line

Kanye West, known for his passion for fashion, tried his luck in fashion industry in first 2009 with Pastelle line. But only in two days after photos of Pastelle were posted on the Internet, the business was carshed. They told that West conributed to his fashion business failure himself as shortly before Pastelle’s launch he said that not Taylor Swift but another artist should have won at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Mandy Moore’s Mblem Clothing Line

Mandy Moore launched her clothing line Mblem in 2005. Her line was targeted at youthful contemporary clothing. The brand was sold in major department stores around the country. But in 2009, almost three years after the launch, Mblem shut its doors. Moore claimed she anted to focus on her music career; however, her interviews hint at creative differences behind the scenes.

In an interview, she said:

If I were to dip my toe back in there, it would have to be the right situation… a great partnership that could represent a true reflection of me and my ideas and, you know, that wasn’t happening.”

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