Jonas Bros. restaurant shuts down, joins celebrity failures

Just because fans like a celebrity’s music, movies, or television show does not mean they will support their restaurants.

In fact, there’s a long list of failed eateries opened by famous people, which failed fairly quickly. It’s a lesson learned by everyone from Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, multiple times in the former NSync members’ case, to Kevin Costner, Steven Spielberg, and many more.

“Celebrity status offers a massive marketing head start, but in the brutal landscape, fame is often a recipe for financial disaster. Many stars find that “star power” cannot fix a broken business model,” according to Parade.

It’s a simple matter of restaurant economics.

“While a famous name packs the house during opening month, it cannot offset the reality of soaring labor costs and supply chainvolatility. Investors often over-leverage these projects, betting on expansion before the flagship is stable. When novelty wears off, and the math doesn’t add up, even the biggest icons are served a reality check,” Parade added.

Now, you can add the Jonas Brothers to the long list of celebrities who failed in the restaurant business.

Jonas Brothers closing Las Vegas Strip restaurant

Nellie’s Southern Kitchen restaurant is closing at MGM Grand resort on the Las Vegas Strip, according to Casino.org’s Vital Vegas.

“The restaurant will close on or before June 1, 2026,” according to the website.

Nellie’s opened June 4, 2022.

The restaurant is owned by Denise and Kevin Jonas, Sr., the parents of the Jonas Brothers (Kevin II, Joe and Nick), in partnership with TLI Bedrock LLC.

“Founded by Kevin Jonas Sr., wife Denise, along with their four sons Kevin, Joe, Nick & Franklin, Nellie’s serves as a place to pay respect and honor to a family legend in her own right. Nellie Jonas, the great-grandmother of the Jonas Brothers, was a pivotal figure in the family’s culinary heritage,” the company shared on its website.

Franklin Jonas is not a member of the well-known band, which consists of Kevin, Joe, and Nick.

The entire family showed up for the restaurant’s 2022 opening at The District in MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip.

“Nellie’s Southern Kitchen is a perfect reflection of our family’s passion for food and music. And the fact that we introduced Nellie’s the same weekend our Las Vegas residency kicked off couldn’t be better,” Kevin Jonas said in a press release.

Nellie’s Southern Kitchen explains the closure

“We’ve had the privilege of operating Nellie’s in Las Vegas successfully for several years. As our lease approached its expiration, we made a strategic decision about where to focus our long-term efforts,” Manolis D. Alpogianis, a spokesperson for the brand, shared in an email to TheStreet.

“Ultimately, we chose to prioritize markets that align more closely with our core concept, like our Belmont, North Carolina location, where we can build deeper relationships with our guests and be part of the community in a more meaningful, day-to-day way,” he shared.

Jonas Brothers join a long list of failed celebrity restaurateurs

Celebrities are not immune to the challenges of the restaurant business. The Spectator shared some recent examples of big-name stars struggling after opening eateries.

David Beckham and Guy Ritchie opened a pub in 2018 – the Walmer Castle – but it didn’t last. They handed it on in 2022, and the pub has changed hands three times since its opening. Ed Sheeran set up his grastropub, ‘Bertie Blossoms’ just two months before the pandemic, and while it is still open, Sheeran has admitted that it’s not gone smoothly.

“He’s learned that unless you have a large chain, making money off a restaurant is very difficult,” he told the website.

Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio have tried the chain business model, opening eight locations of their plant-based ‘Neat Burger’, with most of them having closed, according to TheStreet.

“Other failures have been down to basic incompetence. Idris Elba’s opened a wine bar and restaurant at King’s Cross, ‘Porte Noire’, which received a one-star rating for food hygiene last summer. The report said the place is dirty, in a poor state of repair, and unfit to serve the raw sea bass on the menu,” The Spectator added.

Restaurants have struggled broadly

Technomic senior principal David Henkes believes the overall restaurant industry still faces significant challenges.

“A big part of what’s happening is consumer confidence and how they feel about their current economic situation,” Henkes said during the US Foods’ Foods Fanatics event, pointing to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index which shows that consumer confidence levels are at a historic low.

“Consumers were more confident in their situations during the pandemic than they are today,” he said, as reported by Nation’s Restaurant News.

Data from Revenue Management Solutions shows gas prices have a measurable impact on restaurant spending behavior, NRN reported.

“Right now, confidence is king,” RMS chief executive officer John Oakes said in a statement. “While traditional economic factors such as inflation, wages, and fuel costs still matter, consumer confidence tells us how guests will behave in the weeks and months ahead.”

The Jonas Brothers’ restaurant closure falls within the broader statistical range of small-business failure rates in the U.S.

“Roughly 20% of new businesses fail within the first year, while nearly half shut down within five years, highlighting the structural difficulty of sustaining new ventures in competitive consumer industries like restaurants, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Dynamics statistics.

The Jonas Brothers have played multiple Las Vegas Strip residencies.

Shutterstock

Other celebrity failures include:Dive! (Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg) closed after its novelty “submarine dining” concept failed to generate repeat customers despite early hype, according to Parade.NYLA (Britney Spears) closed shortly after opening in Manhattan amid criticism of execution, concept confusion, and operational issues, added Parade.
The Clubhouse (Kevin Costner) eventually closed after years of financial strain and inconsistent performance in the casual dining segment, reported the LA Business Journal.Chi / Destino / Southern Hospitality (Justin Timberlake-linked ventures) saw closures or exits as part of shifting ownership and underperformance in competitive nightlife/dining markets, according to Eater.Café Dupri (Jermaine Dupri) closed after struggling financially despite early branding as a celebrity-driven upscale dining concept, AOL reported.Celebrity chefs fail, too

While Guy Fieri, Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay, and many other celebrity chefs operate dozens of restaurants between them, celebrity chefs also have their share of failed restaurants.

“Although it seems that Food Network stars and their major network colleagues have no problem scoring lucrative restaurant deals, many of these projects fizzle out fast due to some combination of poor management, bad reviews, overspending on the build-out, and lack of involvement from the star chefs after the doors swing open,” according to Eater.

Ramsay’s Fat Cow, for example, was hurt by bad reviews from local outlets, including these comments in LA Weekly.

“Ramsay lost me, finally, as my friend and I sat and looked miserably over the ruins of our lunch, a lunch with Ramsay’s name on it but no trace of the skill he’s famous for,” the newspaper’s food critic Besha Rodell wrote after its opening.

Fat Cow also had operational problems.

“Aside from this memorably bad review, Ramsay had bigger problems on his hands: the Fat Cow’s employees filed a class action lawsuit over unpaid wages, and the chef’s contractors sued him over an outstanding tab from the build-out,” Eater reported.

Nation’s Restaurant News’ former Editor in Çhief Sara Locker explained why celebrities and their backers keep opening restaurants.

“If you’re going to fail, at least fail big. Isn’t that how the saying goes,” she wrote in an NRN column.

Related: After Chapter 11, BBQ chain shuts down all locations

#Jonas #Bros #restaurant #shuts #joins #celebrity #failures