By Jeremy Lovell
South Africa's Planet Hollywood restaurant, which has never fully recovered after being bombed two years ago, is for sale, Richard Day, managing director of owner Leisurenet said on Monday.
"We are not aggressively trying to sell it. But if someone came along with the right price we would consider it," he said.
Planet Hollywood in Cape Town's Waterfront tourist area had been open for three months in August 1998 when two diners were killed and more than 20 others injured in a pipe bomb explosion that gutted the restaurant.
Barely three months later, the restaurant reopened with a fanfare of publicity, a new look and beefed-up security.
But two years and 15 bombs later in the city that is South Africa's top tourist destination, the customers are simply not coming in sufficient numbers to make the restaurant profitable.
"It has taken quite a long time to recover since the bomb," Day said.
"It is a highly capitalised business and you need a high turnover. We are getting the bums on the seats, but not in sufficient numbers.
He did not mention a possible price for the restaurant, wholly owned by Leisurenet.
"It is not just Planet Hollywood that has suffered, the Waterfront and the whole city has suffered because of the bombs," he added.
There has been on average one bomb every six weeks in Cape Town since the attack on Planet Hollywood - the latest was on Friday in the parking lot of a busy shopping mall in the city's rich Constantia suburb.
Two people have been killed and more than 100 injured by the bombs. To date police have made no arrests.
Cape Town's image at home and abroad has also suffered from the low intensity gang war in the city's crime-ridden Cape Flats area.
In an abnormally bloody weekend, seven people were shot dead on the Cape Flats where a normal week will see several shootings, murders and rapes.
Day said the violence intensified retail competition and a sticky economic climate had combined to hurt the restaurant business generally in the city.
But he noted that it was also Leisurenet's stated intention to focus on its core health business, which includes the Health and Racquet Club chain of fitness facilities.
Leisurenet had a net attributable profit of R109,5-million on turnover of R1,17-billion in the year to December 31, 1999 - up sharply from a net attributable profit of R64,9-million the previous year.
"It is our stated objective as Leisurenet to go back to our core business...and food is not our core business," Day said.
The Florida-based Planet Hollywood chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999 and was delisted from the New York stock exchange. It still operates about 60 restaurants around the world, but sold off sports-themed cafes and cancelled other non-core ventures.
It was set up in 1991 by Hard Rock Cafe veteran Robert Earl and film producer Keith Barish. It gained the financial support of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone and expanded into prime tourist locations worldwide.
But it spread itself too thin and was forced to scale back in the face of stiff competition and poor repeat business. - Reuters