Everyone should own a business irrespective of one’s occupation. The saying, “not everyone was born to do business or to become an entrepreneur” is a fallacy. I don’t believe anyone was born to do anything, we all discovered what we wanted to do and shot for it. As we have engineers and doctors so we have business men and women. That’s a fact!
However, there are some professions with a short term span. The question is what would they fall back too after their career was over. For instance, an athlete starts gaining his ground at the age of 18 and becomes a star at the age of 21. At the age of 29-30, he is already getting too old to sprint. The same thing applies to a football or basketball player. As at the age of 40, they are already planning to retire. Owning a business before retirement is a very good life choice such that you have something to fall back to after your retirement.
Many celebrities, instead of starting a business from scratch which they don’t have the time to run, purchase business franchises from different popular businesses with an already established operational and support system. You will be surprised how many celebrities have joined the fast food restaurant chain.
Some of these celebrities grew up falling in love with one meal or the other. Some of them have always had the intention to own a fast food business like their favorite fast food joint when growing up but were unable to because of their career in sport, music, entertainment or politics.
In this article, we are going to list out a few celebrities we found that are currently investing in one franchise business or the other. Perhaps you may see your favorite celebrity who already has his life well-planned. Let’s dive in!
1. Venus Williams
Venus Williams is a 39 years old professional tennis player who was known to dominate women ‘s tennis during her time. If you have never heard of Venus Williams, I am sure you are familiar with her sister, Serena Williams. They were both great tennis players in their time paving a way and ushering black women into the world of sport. During her playing time, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease known as Sjogren’s syndrome. This syndrome happens such that the body’s immune system instead of fighting for the body, attacks the body most especially the glands responsible for tears and saliva. She was forced to embark on a Vegan Diet which led her to Jamba Juice, a brand popularly known to offer delicious plant-based smoothies and some other blend of juices. She joined the train of Jamba Juice owners purchasing their business franchise in about four locations in Washington, D.C.
2. Chris Brown
One of my favorite artists globally known to release engaging songs. I together with most people love him for his swag, street credibility and badass dance steps. Chris Brown is a 31-year-old handsome and charming musician born in Virginia. He is a songwriter, dancer and actor. Yeah, he has acted in several dance movies such as Stomp the yard, which was my favorite. As a musician, it is very difficult to own, keep, run and maintain a business. As a matter of fact, it might be the worst idea. There are lots of shows to attend to and perform, lots of singles and albums to release and most importantly, you want to keep being at the top and at your best. So as a business enthusiast and popular musician, the only way to own a business is to purchase a business franchise. In an interview with Chris Brown by US Weekly Story, he mentioned that he owned about 14 franchises of Burger King.
3. Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron is a retired baseball player who was commonly called “The Hammer.” If you are familiar with baseball, he was a right fielder for Major League Baseball who played about 21 seasons. He has made a lot of achievements during his playing among which he was ranked in the “100 greatest baseball players” list in the world. The 86 year-old made a lot of good decisions while he was younger, one of which was starting a business corporation named 755 Restaurant Corp. Baseball legend, Hank Aaron founded 755 Restaurant Corp in 1995 with an intention to grow an empire. Now he owns about 24 Popeye Chicken franchises all scattered around areas in Atlanta and a few other franchises such as Krispy Kreme Doughnut Stores.
4. Jimmy Buffet
Jimmy Buffet is an infamous music legend best known by the Americans as the King of Margaritaville. He got this nickname from the hit song “Margaritaville” which was ranked one of the best music of his time. By describing him fully, he was a songwriter, showman, author, musician, and businessman. He made many business decisions which includes investing in record labels, production of beers, casinos, video games, real estate, cannabis, football and of course, business franchising. However, we are more concerned about the last one mentioned. Around sometime in the last century, he purchased the Krispy Kreme franchise in an area in Florida. Jimmy buffet was quite an ambitious musician, multitalented and well vast in the many areas including business. So investing in a business franchise like Krispy Kreme wasn’t a surprise.
5. Shaquille O’Neal
One of my favorite basketball players of all time who retired as one of the best players in the world of basketball. This hugely looking African American gentleman won about three championships for the Lakers back to back. He played for about six teams in his time. He was also an ambitious man who served in many facets of life- music, law enforcement, acting, video games, television shows and some other parts. There many other things you might not know about Shaq but this is not the reason why this article was written. He is one of those celebrities who invested in more franchises than any other celebrity. Former NBA legend is reported to have about 155 Five Guys Burger and Fries franchise, 40 24-Hour Fitness Clubs and 17 Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.
6. Rick Ross
It is not everyone that delved into the franchise venture that actually did it for the money. Although making more money is a nice catch, some of these celebrities just wanted to own it because they loved it. One of them was Rick Ross, a big famous black rapper who was always obsessed with Wingstop to the extent of including it in one of his songs. Rick Ross in one of his interviews with Forbes Magazine uttered this four-word statement, “I just love Wingstop.” In this same interview, he continued by saying, “As you can see, the energy in here is always fun. It’s always youthful. Not only that, you know they got my favorite lemon pepper wings in the world, so it’s just a natural attraction.” Ross has made a lot of money as his business franchise grows exponentially which contributed to his position as one of the Hip Hop Cash Kings. Currently, Rick Ross owns up to 10 Wingstop franchises across the States.
7. Michael Strahan
Michael Anthony Strahan, a Houston-born professional and international football player, a legend and retired defensive giant. He played all the 15-years of his football career for the New York Giants leading them to victory a couple of times and bagging home many awards. He was indeed a legend who after retirement pursued other aspects of life such as media and business. Surprisingly, Michael also invested in burger king franchise in affiliation with some other football players owning up to 20 Burger King franchise businesses spread across the States and bagging a shitload of profit yearly.
8. Phil Michaelson
Here is another burger lover! Phil Michaelson, popularly and professionally called “lefty”. Of course, he was a left-handed man that’s where the nickname came from. He was a professional golfer who had bagged many achievements in the world of golf. We can say he was good with the stick. He was a beast with the stick bagging about five major championships which is a rare achievement in the world of Golf. As a matter of fact, there are only 12 professional golfers who have been able to pull that through. Aside golfing, Michaelson Phil also pursued some other things, one of which was purchasing Five Guys Burger franchise spread around in Orange County, California. Many people say Phil was strongly obsessed with their burger such that he ate there in the morning, afternoon and night. That’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. That’s how much he loved the place until he was able to purchase their franchise and own a chain of the business.
9. Nene Leakes
African American Nene Leakes, a popular television personality known for featuring in the popular TV show called The Real Housewives of Atlanta. If you are familiar with this show, you will recognize her. She was a strong black woman who grew up in Queens. She spent her life mostly in the media industry in many shows from The New Normal on NBC to NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice. She also delved into other ventures such as becoming an author, acting, producing, fashion designing and of course business. Nene Leakes owns a franchise of Famous Famiglia Pizzeria in Sacramento which was one of her greatest investments.
Conclusion
Investing in a good franchise comes with different intentions in which making more profit is one of them. You will be surprised how many of these so-called wealthy and popular celebrities have invested in one business franchise or the other. Majority of these celebrities invested because they were trying to secure their future and their children’s. Some other celebrities invested in fast food franchises because they just loved to own one since they eat there and it was awesome if they owned one. Here, in this article, we have seen a list of nine celebrities who own or invested in one franchise or the other.