Cannes: the flop of "Planet Hollywood"

Planet Holllywood is over. It will close down and will be replaced at the end of the year by a restaurant such as the "Buddha Bar" in Paris, which was a roaring success this summer at the Canto Harbour. Negotiations, which were undertaken for a while with the Hard Rock Cafe group, have failed and it is now a beach manager from Cannes (Eric Joinville, Galion beach on the Croisette) who will take over the restaurant with a new concept (the 36 current employees, managing team included, should still work in the new restaurant).Launched five years ago during the Cannes Festival, with American stars coming there, the Cannes version of the American restaurants group never really succeeded to get a name. Nevertheless, it benefited from a good place, nearby the palais des festivals and in front of the Vieux port of Cannes. At the beginning of September, "Planet Hollywood Cannes" looked a pitiful sight: whereas all restaurants around were full, and some of them even with long queues, it was desperately empty. The closing down was ineluctable. It won't be the only one in France for the group though, which will only keep the profitable restaurants, the one on the Champs Elysées and at the Disney Village in Marne-la-Vallée.