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CNN Live Today
Interview With Janice Min
Aired June 28, 2002 - 11:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITNEY SPEARS, MUSICIAN: I love what I do. And I'm motivated. I love what I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Britney's restaurant is the latest in a growing line of celeb eateries. Janice Min is in New York. She's executive editor of "Us Weekly" magazine and one of the guests at last night's grand opening. She's joining us from New York this morning. Thanks for being with us.
Hey, what an opening last night. Lots of celebrities turned out for that.
JANICE MIN, US MAGAZINE: It was insane; it was really like a sold-out Britney Spears concert. It didn't help that it was pouring rain here last night. So basically, you had celebrities like Rudy Giuliani, the singer Samantha Cole, magician David Copperfield all show up for this event. And then you have hundreds of fans waiting there, clamoring to get in. You have police threatening to arrest people, barricades falling over. It was really insane.
CALLAWAY: Yes, Britney Spears is about the last celebrity I expected to open a restaurant. We did catch up with her last night to hear what she had to say about the opening. Let's listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Britney, you could do just about anything. Why a restaurant? Why in New York?
SPEARS: Probably because -- I mean, why not, honestly? I mean, I love New York. The energy here is so good. And it's cool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: All right, Janice. I'm not sure how much she really knows about her own restaurant there. It's a little scary, Janice. I don't know, could she tell us what's on the menu?
MIN: Well, I hope she can. You know, we do know that one of her very favorite dishes, fried chicken, is on the menu. And we also know that Britney did have a lot of influence on the decor. You know, one of her favorite artists is Georgia O'Keeffe. So you saw a lot of peaches and oranges and pinks on the paint on the walls, and you really have it draped in chiffon from the ceiling for a very girly look. And she even -- she chose the name, Nyla. It's a combination of New York and --
CALLAWAY: Well, there's the answer. She could have said, because it's a good name.
MIN: Exactly.
CALLAWAY: Anything. She just didn't know.
MIN: Exactly.
CALLAWAY: Tell us again, they gave out quite a goody bag last night. This fascinated me. If you went to the opening last night, you came away with some expensive party gifts, party favors.
MIN: Exactly. This was no ordinary goody bag. This goody bag cost $763 for each one. And so you had in there, you had $100 sterling silver necklace from a Louisiana designer. You had -- of course, you had Britney's CD, a pair of socks, ordinary things like that. But then you also had a $250 watch and you even had $100 gift certificate from the jeweler Treneau. It was really a good score for the people who got one.
CALLAWAY: Now, let me ask you this. I have never covered one of these things. Is this typical of these celebrity restaurants, a big opening like we saw last night and expensive goody bags?
MIN: Well, like with everything with Britney these days, it was very over the top. You know, you do have big celebrity openings of restaurants. Like J-Lo, for instance, a few weeks ago had a huge opening for her restaurant, Madre's, in Pasadena, California. But this was just insane. You had the fans clamoring, you had the police, you had the rain. All of it came together to just be this circus of an event.
CALLAWAY: You know, Janice, one thing I do know is that the typical celebrity restaurant, they don't usually last very long. I'm thinking about the restaurants that the models opened.
MIN: Fashion Cafe.
CALLAWAY: Cameron Diaz's restaurant, down in Miami, supposedly closed. Rumors it could open again. And what are the success rates of these type of celebrity restaurants?
MIN: Well, I think a lot of it depends on how involved the celebrities stay in the product, in the actual restaurant itself. You know, you have Robert De Niro here in New York, who's been very involved in some very successful restaurants, including Nobu Tribeca Grill, and then you have other celebrities who just kind of lend their name like they did with Planet Hollywood, lending some memorabilia here and there, and those don't succeed.
But here in New York, you know, P. Diddy is still involved with his restaurant, Justin's. It's been a huge success. You have Johnny Depp with the restaurant Man Ray, which has gotten great reviews for food. So the celebrities, as they do with their own career, really have to stay involved.
CALLAWAY: Yes, I know Michael Jordan's restaurants do very well. He is very involved.
MIN: Exactly. Huge hit. Huge hit.
CALLAWAY: All right. Janice Min, thanks for joining us. Did you get one of those goody bags?
MIN: I have one. I'm going to try to keep this one here.
CALLAWAY: All right. Thanks for being with us.
MIN: Thanks.
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