Berlin. The territory of Chief Billie goes to Germany, up in a corner house in Berlin. The chief of the Seminole Indians perched in a heavy leather chair. His skin is weathered, his voice smoky, of a ring finger is missing half. “That was a crocodile,” he says. A few years ago, at home in Florida, in the swamps of the Everglades. He had wrestled for fun with the animal.
James Edward Billie, as the 71-year-old full name is, Businessman is Lord over a business empire that spans the world and billions converts dollars, one sees him not to.
In the House on Kurfürstendamm is a Hard Rock Cafe. One of four in Germany and 154 worldwide. A small portion of Billies Reich. The restaurants do not belong about financial investors or a large corporation. They belong to the chief and his Tribal Culture North American. 2006 they bought the company for $ 965 million – of the assets, which they had made a huge bingo hall in Florida. “The Seminoles did not count among the richest people in the world,” Billie looks back. “Hard Rock has a piece removed us far from the poverty and we are doing very well.”
Billies visit to Berlin is an exploration trip. He is looking for a location to expand in the capital. But it’s not just about a new branch. It’s about the future of his kingdom. Some people say his empire had lost power. Brand experts believe, the name Hard Rock Cafe no longer shine. Billie has a mission: He wants to prove them wrong
But not with another Cafe.. The Seminoles want to open a hotel in Berlin. A Hard Rock Hotel. In the style of the restaurant, with collectibles from the Musi
kgeschichte and Elvis sounds in the lobby. It would be the first in Germany. Even the construction site is not found. “We think of another location on the Kurfürstendamm or to a near Checkpoint Charlie,” says Billie the Berliner Morgenpost. Both places, the West Berlin boulevard and the former East German border crossing, fulfill his most important criterion: “The address must be exclusive.”
Chief Billie does not do things by halves. He loves the noble and expensive places around the globe. From Orlando from aiming his empire in all directions: as far as Rome and Tokyo, down to Johannesburg and north to Stockholm. It also includes remote corners, the Caribbean island of Aruba and the Fiji Islands around, Guatemala and Paraguay, Kazakhstan and Bahrain. In addition to the 154 restaurants include 21 hotels and ten casinos to in 64 countries, on every continent. In Germany there are pubs in Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Berlin.
154 restaurants, and yet it does not depend on the food, at least not only. The burgers, sandwiches and pork ribs are incidental. In a Hard Rock Cafe Larger counts. There it comes to success, legends and men, wrote the story. To John Lennon, whose wire-rimmed glasses can be seen in the London office. To Elvis Presley, in 1968 by a celebrated TV appearance of his ailing career new impetus lent – a Gibson Super 400 guitar, which today hangs in Memphis, the city, died in Elvis. . In Berlin it comes to the Beatsteaks, who sent a guitar from her first video
It all began with Eric Clapton: He left in 1979 in the London Hard Rock Cafe’s Fender Lead II attach to mark his favorite place. Today more than 70,000 exhibits from the history of rock are issued in restaurants worldwide. It is the largest collection of the planet. It makes the Hard Rock Cafes unique. Billie rules over a global cult chain. But “cult” is often an award on time, and the great age of the Hard Rock Cafes, the dazzling era could end
Some even say. She was already over. Or who bears in Germany now offer T-shirts with the logo of the chain? Brown letters against a mustard yellow circle, including the name of the place of origin of the shell: This was once the fabric has become the trophy globetrotter. The proof was how far the carrier managed. “Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh City”. “Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu”. The lettering proclaimed from a life as a cosmopolitan. This impression is left stalling, earlier, in the 80s and 90s, when there were no budget airlines, not Google Maps. Today things are different. Is Billies brand faded, like the cotton shirt after many washes?
“The myth is over,” says Karsten Kilian, brand expert and professor at the University of Würzburg-Schweinfurt. “The Hard Rock Cafes find it difficult to retain the charm of yesteryear.” They have become a museum: thanks to its exhibits still attractive, but also solidifies. “The wow factor is gone.” Chief Billie must come up with something to revive the brand. “The brand has a hard time, they have to fight,” says Klaus-Dieter Koch, founder of management consultancy Brand Trust. Although the idea behind the Hard Rock Café was awesome, but less entangled.
Superficially, the concept simple. Meat and rock ‘n’ roll. The fusion of food and music. But that’s not all. A Hard Rock Cafe makes a promise: Those who sit at the table, under an old leather jacket Stones guitarist Keith Richards (Malta) or a Hohner Marine Band harmonica Bob Dylan (Atlanta), who comes to his idol closer – he fed yes with him, so to speak. “The restaurants suggest that they reduce the distance between fans and stars,” says Koch. He calls “bridging function” the. A psychological trick. However, one who will soon no longer be able to function.
The people will find, according to the brand skilled now other ways to their stars, digital paths. Facebook posts and Twitter messages. “Social networking sites make a direct exchange with the celebrities possible,” says Koch – they meet the “bridging function” better, at least for younger people. Younger hear today even less rock ‘n’ roll – the great theme of the brand tears no longer with the masses. “The group that appeals to you, has narrowed,” says Koch on white older men with a penchant for nostalgia
Hard Rock Cafe, a brand that has peaked. – Chief Billie finds absurd. He puts his brow. “The chain has lost nothing of its appeal,” he says on his leather throne, before an oversized silver logo that shines in the glow of ceiling lamps, as if to confirm the statement. The man sitting next to Billie, striving for numbers. The company’s turnover has grown steadily, says CEO Hamish Dodds, who is responsible for the operational business. 2013 it was close to 3.5 billion dollars in 2014 to 3.9 billion dollars. A brand in decline? “But on the contrary.” 2016 would the world 13 new Hard Rock Cafe opened.
German Pop instead Rock ‘n’ Roll
are those successes out of reach for most Native American tribes in the United States. The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development in the US Department of the Interior is working since 2006 in mind, to change that. It reported that the tribes would take their economic destiny increasingly into their own hands. The Cherokees, the largest Indian tribe in the United States have, with its 40 companies in 2014 made about $ 829 million in sales and $ 104 million profit
Nevertheless:. In the restaurants you reach loudly Dodds the Limits to Growth. Therefore, the brand now disclosing additional revenue streams. “Casinos and hotels, it is our new focus.” The company presents itself on broader – and not just through new establishment. The transformation goes deeper, goes to the very heart of the brand: He makes the music. “We do not limit ourselves to more rock ‘n’ roll,” says Dodds. The cafes were opened for other directions. For Latin American rhythms, pop songs from China – and German artists.
But so much will change – one should remain largely as it is: the food. Billies restaurants also have Healthy on the map, but that is not for him. “I want meat, medium rare,” he says, “I want meat.” Raw inside.
No comments:
Post a Comment