These famous faces are better known for their contributions to the entertainment industry (or for being the former president of the United States). But they also have something surprising in common: they all launched their own food or drinks business that spectacularly flopped.

From Snoop Cereal and Trump Steaks to Hulk Hogan's cheeseburger pasta, read on to discover the celebs who tried to make a fortune from food – and failed. 

All dollar amounts in US dollars.

Rappers Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus) and Master P (Percy Miller) filed a lawsuit against Walmart and Post Consumer Brands on February 6, claiming the companies carried out “diabolical actions” and “underhanded dealing” to prevent customers from purchasing Snoop Cereal. Snoop Dogg's eponymous cereal brand – which offers products such as "Frosted Drizzlerz" and "Cinnamon Toasteez" – is owned by Broadus Food, the brand Broadus and Miller co-founded in 2022 to create “opportunities for minority-owned food products and brands."

While both Broadus Food and Snoop Cereal are still in business, it's clear sales have faltered – either through poor consumer demand, as Post Consumer Brands has argued, or deliberate sabotage, as Broadus and Miller intend to prove in court.

In 2007, Donald Trump launched an exclusive line of steaks and other meat products. This curveball career move makes a lot more sense when you consider the beef was sourced from Buckhead Beef, a company Trump owed over $715,000 to after the bankruptcy of his casino in Atlantic City.

Despite bearing the tagline "The World's Greatest Steaks," sales of the steaks, burgers, and sausages – which retailed in packages ranging from $199 to $999 – were dismal. To make matters even worse, the Trump Steakhouse in Las Vegas was eventually shut down due to 51 health code violations.

This trio of Hollywood stars were all smiles at the launch event for their Planet Hollywood chain of restaurants in 1991. Little did they know their chain of eateries would go bankrupt twice, amassing colossal debts.

As of 2024, only a handful of Planet Hollywood restaurants survive in America, down from a peak of over 100 in the mid-1990s.

Director Steven Spielberg's movies may have earned him millions of dollars, but the Beverly Hills restaurant he launched with Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1994 wasn't quite so lucrative.

A hit for a time, the nautical-themed eatery soon lost its luster and shut down in 1999.

Wrestling star Hulk Hogan took a knock when he invested in the fast food industry. His incredibly tacky Pastamania restaurant in the Mall of the Americas opened its doors in 1995, tempting diners with dishes including cheeseburger pasta and Hulkaroni and cheese.

Unimpressed, the crowds failed to flock, and the eatery went under within a year.

Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer, and Christy Turlington launched their Fashion Café chain in the mid-1990s. Branches in New York and London opened to much fanfare but were gone by 1999.

The cafés failed to pull in the diet-obsessed fashion crowd, and the supermodels' business partners ended up being arrested for fraud.

Britney Spears lost a pile of cash in 2002 when her Cajun-inspired New York restaurant Nyla went belly up after just six months.

Beset by bad reviews and health code violations, the restaurant was an unmitigated disaster from the get-go.

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Former Chicago Bear Jim McMahon clearly hasn't heard the expression "once bitten, twice shy."

The NFL star opened his eponymous Chicago eatery in 1987, which went under after three years. Undeterred, McMahon tried again in 2002 with a steakhouse, and that too failed, closing its doors within a year.

Kevin Costner teamed up with Jack Niklaus in 1997 to establish a golf-themed restaurant in Costa Mesa, California.

The eatery, which served hearty American fare, did well for a time but eventually became unprofitable, closing its doors forever in 2007.

Though she's had her fair share of entrepreneurial success, Jennifer Lopez isn't immune to failure. In 2002, she opened a Cuban/Puerto Rican restaurant in Pasadena, California that shut its doors for an undisclosed reason just six years later.

According to Business Insider, the only clue was a sign in the window announcing the indefinite closure of the brand.

Rapping and producing hit records may come naturally to Jermaine Dupri, but operating a successful café evidently doesn't. Launched in Atlanta in the summer of 2005, Dupri's eponymous cafe failed to turn a decent profit and closed in 2008.

Dupri explained: "The economy has changed dramatically and people just aren't eating out as much anymore. People are cutting back everywhere and a lot of companies, including Café Dupri, are feeling the effect... I feel it's a smart move to shut it down."

The fast food industry isn't always a get-rich-quick ticket, as Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav discovered in 2011.

A joint effort with his business partner Nick Cimino, Flav's restaurant in Clinton, Iowa opened in the January but was closed for good by April, and the hapless pair fell out amid accusations of mismanagement and poor cash flow.

In 2008, Eva Longoria launched the restaurant Beso in Los Angeles, but the business struggled and filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

She converted the Las Vegas restaurant into a family-friendly steakhouse, but that fared just as badly. It shut down for good in 2014 after just two years of operation. The LA restaurant closed in 2017.

Pharrell Williams collaborated with drinks giant Diageo in 2011 to launch a liqueur called Qream with a Q aimed at "independent and successful women."

Sales of the tipple fell flat, and Williams sued Diageo in 2013 for failing to market the drink effectively.

Heather Mills launched her VBites vegan food company in 2007, after buying (and renaming) Redwood Wholefood. The former model and entrepreneur, who used to be married to Sir Paul McCartney, entered the food industry with the goal of "furthering the plant-based movement." But that goal ran aground when the business fell into administration in December 2023. 

According to Mills, the company has fallen victim to a number of factors including the cost of living crisis, "corporate greed," misinformation spread by the meat and dairy industries, and Brexit. "My team and I have undertaken 30 years [Redwood Wholefood was originally founded in 1993] of product creation and evolution as well as personally investing tens of millions of pounds into the business," Mills said, adding the closure was "extremely distressing."

Updated by Alice Cattley

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