Yikes, there goes all Ariana Madix‘s Scandoval money…
For years now, Ariana and her Vanderpump Rules co-star Katie Maloney have been working on a yet-to-open sandwich shop in Los Angeles called Something About Her — and it’s turned into a money pit!! According to The US Sun on Tuesday, the restaurant still doesn’t have an opening in sight… despite them sinking nearly $1 MILLION into the place!
Here’s the deal. The West Hollywood spot’s launch has been “put on hold,” per insiders, after a series of health issues have been royally f**king them over.
Related: Ariana Madix Drags ‘Completely Useless’ Tom Schwartz!
Despite formerly being a restaurant that served healthy New American dishes, the establishment was a “dump” when the ladies signed the lease — with rent costing them “almost $8,000 a month,” which they’ve been paying since September 2022. Now with all the work they’ve poured into the place (and all the new problems still to fix), it’s estimated they “spent nearly $1 million on the shop.” Ouch!
Ariana and Katie were always open to dishing out cash to make the place sparkle. They spent the first chunk of the money at first on hiring a “pricey” interior designer to bring a Parisian-inspired cafe feel to the place. But instead of just hiring an up-and-comer, they snagged Emmy-winning designer Jon Hutman, who worked on several Nancy Meyers movies.
Tom Schwartz‘s ex-wife actually teased this in a previous VPR special titled A Decade Of Rumors and Lies, saying:
“This whole Something About Her [concept], and the vision behind that, was wanting it to be romanticized lunch, à la rom-coms. I want to live in a Nancy Meyers movie. So when we were talking about what this place looks like and feels like, I’m like, ‘Well, who does Nancy Meyers’ movies?'”
So, they obviously weren’t concerned about saving money at first. But maybe they should’ve been!!
After losing $300K to update the interior, they now have to redo the entire thing!! Per the insiders, the City of WeHo just told them that the floor is “not for open food use,” meaning they’ll have to rip it up and start over:
“The entire flooring has to be pulled out. Well if you pull out that flooring, you have to pull out all the furnishings, you have to pull out the refrigeration too because that wasn’t put in correctly. So now, all of a sudden, after spending $300,000 on a build-out, they have to redo everything. That is what is now going on.”
Oh no!!
The confidant continued:
“It’s a clusterf**k. It’s a lot of back and forth with city officials. Taking over this location has been bad luck from the beginning. It’s like it’s been jinxed because it’s always something new.”
Remember, they’ve already faced previous setbacks when they were forced to get rid of a front patio they’d planned to offer for outdoor seating. A yellow and white awning and their store’s sign were also forced to come down due to the same change in city rules, an insider explained:
“After the remodeling, Katie and Ariana learned that permit laws had changed and they had to take down their sign and break down the entire front patio.”
As of now, new pics show the sidewalk in front of the store is empty with no sign or awning (see HERE). In December, the reality stars filed a new permit with the city, proposing a different outdoor dining area and new canopy that would be acceptable within the limits, as they noted on signage posted on the front door of the shop. They’re also waiting for a liquor license so they can sell beer and wine (with hopes of having a wine bar) for a 12-month term.
But, again, all of this work was supposed to be done already. Their business partners were dreaming of a January 2024 opening — and that’s obviously been “put on hold” amid this mess. This would be problematic no matter what, but the change in timeline means Katie’s basically on her own now! With Ariana in New York focusing on her upcoming role in Broadway‘s Chicago, Katie and a very small staff are currently waiting for everything to get approved. But a previous source didn’t sound so hopeful, telling the outlet last week:
“Ariana is not really involved right now. Everything has pretty much been left on Katie, and she can’t do it alone. I don’t see how it could even open when Ariana is literally on the opposite coast for a couple of months. Those involved are even questioning, ‘How is it going to happen? Katie can’t open this by herself.’ […] I don’t even know if it is opening at this point.”
Damn.
The Single AF Cocktails: Drinks for Bad B*tches is set to be performing the musical through March. It doesn’t seem like Something About Her will even be ready to open its doors by then, but it’s still not great to have a founder so far away during pivotal prep stages.
The only good news right now is that fans who have been eager for updates will get to see all this drama unfold on the new season of Pump Rules out later this month, the original insider shared:
“The drama for next season is wild, but what’s even more shocking are all the issues Something About Her has been dealing with. Everything about what’s going on with the store is going to unfold this season and give fans the answers they’ve been seeking.”
Well, that’s good! At least something’s coming from this nightmare! And it’ll come for us TV viewers to enjoy and watch and sit on the edge of our seats with for the whole season as we take in all the chaos as it unfolds on screen. That’s what this whole crew does best, right?! But even so, they better hurry up and get this place open ASAP or they’re gonna be out of money before they get a chance to sell any sammies!! Reactions?!? Sound OFF with your thoughts on the matter down (below)!
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