I’m just finding about this billionaire man and his restaurant chains and what not right now(I’m an Asian, never been to the US) from a Ted Nivision YouTube vid where he travelled all of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurants. All of them looked pretty flamboyant to say the least and the establishments looked like the company executives were aching to spend as much money as possible. How did one make such a huge empire/conglomerate starting out from a song and then a restaurant, resorts, and moreeeeee
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He was a touring artist for 50 years, and during the 70s and 80s was massive. Having been in music for so long, he earned a ton off of residuals (every time his songs were played on the radio, that was money in his pocket), and he built a brand identity (as you’ve seen off the Ted Nivison video) and a celebrity image. From there, he was able to use that brand to make him more money. The restaurants are a good example. They’re just like any bar restaurant, but with his specific island living brand, and that was enough of a USP to find success. He applied that to a fast food restaurant (which went under), casinos and even real estate. He also diversified into a few of his own record labels, sports teams, other ventures that may not have been as successful. Real estate is likely the biggest thing too. He owns a $1bn retirement village in Daytona Beach, Florida. Property is one of those things that the earlier you buy it, the more you can see it appreciate in value.
Also he was doing that for a long time, for a target audience probably a generation (or two) above yours. Most importantly, he’s had the time to grow that sort of business.
Back in the 80’s he would make the circuit every year. He was always a nice guy and came off as genuine. He also had a bar in Key West. His heroes are Twain and Hemingway and it shows in his music.
He’s admitted that he’s actually not a good guitar player either, but he’s likable, wrote some catchy tunes that most folks in their 50s through 70s know by heart and toured his ass off back in the day. Good for him. Incidentally I think one of his greatest hits albums was called “Songs You Know By Heart”.
His music was fairly ‘hip’ back in the 70’s/80’s too. Titling an album *’A White Sports Coat and a Pink Crustacean’* was pretty innovative in the days when most everything else was ‘sex, drugs, and rock & roll’.. Although there is one cut on there called ‘Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw’, which was hilarious as well as ‘catchy’.
Dear lord, the margaritas at those restaurants are also terrible, at least the one I tried. In 25+ years of drinking weekly, it’s the only drink I’ve ever sent back to the bar, ever.
Dude works hard and found a niche, but strangely, *making* margaritas isn’t actually it.
Licensing . . . Buffett was able to leverage a successful career built on easy listening rock music, into the idea of a lifestyle, and that attracted a LOT of business partners looking to trade on that imagery/brand in order to separate boomers from their cash.
Throw in that Buffett is a VERY likeable guy personally, and it is a winning formula (for the most part. There have been some failures).
To add to what the others said, many of his songs are about the “ideal” of living a lazy life in a beach-side town on a tropical island somewhere, or the fantasy of getting away to a lazy tropical island. He even goes so far as to use steel drums, “island” guitars and other stringed instruments & styles, and xylophone type instruments Americans think of as iconic of island life.
The retirement village and the chain of restaurants are themed to convey that sense of fantasy which he initially fleshed out in his music. In other words, he didn’t build this on one song, he built it on many songs. He was very prolific as an artist, and when he converted success as an artist into his business empire he did it by turning his “schtick” into a brand. The name (Margaritaville) is simply borrowed from the most iconic/famous song from his very large body of work.
He has written a few pretty good novels as well. *A Pirate Looks at Forty* is just one that comes to mind. A well-educated, talented, guy who worked like hell to build an empire on his strengths and interests.
I am from Cincinnati Ohio. Buffet was huge here, still is. When he would have a concert at river bend, the parrot heads would shut the freeways down with limos trying to get to his concert. here you go, [https://seatgeek.com/jimmy-buffett-tickets/cincinnati](https://seatgeek.com/jimmy-buffett-tickets/cincinnati)
Interestingly I just watched a video about this exact thing.
Jimmy was always about the money.
Basically he identified a market and created content and products targeted directly at it.
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