Some worked, others didn't

Why it may take more than just star power to survive in a competitive business space

- VAISHALI DAR & NIKHIL MERCHANT

IT'SA KNOWN fact that many celebrities have tried their hands at the restaurant business. Most of them didn't work, though. Examples are actor Priyanka Chopra's New York restaurant Sona; 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar's hospitality ventures Tendulkar's and Sachin's in Mumbai and Bengaluru; Sehwag's Favourites by former cricketer Virender Sehwag in New Delhi; and so on.

Globally, too, response to celebrity brands and businesses in the food space has been tepid. Actor Jennifer Lopez, who opened Madres in 2002 in California with a focus on Latin food, shut down six years later. Similarly, in the mid-1990s, Hollywood director Steven Spielberg opened a submarine-themed restaurant called Dive! in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, before closing in the early 2000s.

It's easy to assume that the golden touch of celebrity is all it takes to keep a restaurant buzzing. But as food critic Sourish Bhattacharyya points out, "A celebrity association may get a restaurant some instant media attention, but nothing more." Ultimately, it's the food and service that remain the true markers of success.