Yesterday, news outlets reported that Jay-Z is set to bring his 40/40 Club chain to London sometime in the coming year. The deal, a partnership with Chelsea soccer star Ashley Cole, was described as a "multi-million pound" agreement.
The club is supposed to be ready by the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics, according to 40/40 spokesperson Ron Berkowitz. But don't start queuing up to get into the nightclub just yet.
Though Jay-Z's business smarts are world-class, creating the 40/40 chain eight years ago hasn't proven to be his finest financial move thus far. Prior to today's news, the latest plans called for opening 40/40 locations in airports around the country in partnership with hospitality outfit Delaware North. Those don't seem any closer to launch than they did when announced late last year.
"We don't have any on the way," Delaware North spokesperson Glen White told me. "It's a longterm process. We're certainly hoping that in the next few years we'd be able to have one or two."
White said the delays were due in part to the complicated nature of establishing a restaurant in a travel hub. Airports put out requests for the development of eating establishments; after that, prospective tenants must apply for and win the bids -- a competitive and sometimes lengthy process.
This isn't the first time that plans for a new 40/40 location have been enthusiastically announced, only to languish in the planning stages for years. In 2008 new locations in Chicago, Tokyo and Macau were said to be in the works, but three years later, they have yet to debut. Still, the 40/40 Club’s website enthusiastically suggests that those locations and a few others are “Coming Soon 2011!”
Currently, the only 40/40 Club in operation is the Atlantic City location. The flagship New York club is undergoing renovations and is scheduled to re-open in September; another in Las Vegas -- the only other location to see the light of day -- closed its doors for good in August 2008, just eight months after its grand opening (Las Vegas Sands bought back the lease for an undisclosed sum; Jay-Z touted the sale as “a great business decision.”)
Does all of this mean that Jay-Z's London location won't open before the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics as planned? Not necessarily -- and it's never wise to bet against Jay-Z -- but given the 40/40 Club's track record, longterm planners might want to find a backup location for any Olympian afterparty.
