Robert Earl has a track record of attaching himself to great celebrity. He has an eye for well-known figures who, whatever they do, tend to get publicized. That’s what guided him as CEO of Hard Rock Cafe decades ago and inspired him to develop Planet Hollywood.
Widely known TV and culinary personality Guy Fieri is no exception. The two were connected via their relationships with Caesars Entertainment. Earl with his Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort and Casino and Fieri with Guy Fieri’s Vegas Kitchen & Bar.
Earl—as he’s done for decades with other partnerships—observed what Fieri was doing and how he ignited emotion in each type of audience.
Earl saw a man recognized by everyone and who received a smile from everyone. A person who had his finger on the pulse of American dining.
“He does something so smart if you stop and think about it,” Earl says. “He travels America on a weekly basis and sees every trend. He understands Middle America’s taste buds.”
He began to hang out with Fieri in Las Vegas and gravitated toward him like others had. “He’s impossible for me to keep up with,” Earl jokes. “He could drink me or party me under the table.”
Eventually, Earl asked Fieri to create a new menu section for the Planet Hollywood location at Orlando’s Disney Springs as part of an overall transformation in 2017.
The collaboration went so well that the duo took it a step further and decided to open fast casual Chicken Guy! The first store opened in Disney Springs in 2018, beside the flagship Planet Hollywood location.
“We honed in on fast casual, which I think is an obvious statement now subsequent to COVID, that it just gives you so many different angles,” Earl says. “It gives you dine-in. It gives you drive-thru, it gives you delivery, it gives you pickup, and so you’ve got the best of all worlds in terms of broadening your audience. Chicken was the protein that we focused on. There’s quite a few incredible brands out there already. It’s a space that will always be in demand. It will always be priced right whereas beef tends to rise and go crazy at different times.”
The moves—both the Planet Hollywood menu and the launch of Chicken Guy!—were no-brainers for Fieri, who describes Earl as exuberant, energetic, and one of the most dynamic people he’s ever met.
“Robert is an OG,” Fieri says. “He’s a guy that was doing it before I was even in it. You think about his involvement with Hard Rock Cafe, you think about his creation of Planet Hollywood, what a genius move that was. Taking this experience he had with Hard Rock and everybody loving the rock and roll memorabilia and then saying, ‘Well, wait a second, let’s go do the same thing for movies and then go and get those superstars and get these guys involved in it.’ He’s always been a forward-thinking, no-boundaries kind of guy. I mean he really knows how to get after it. I was very honored to be asked to form a team with him.”
This year is a major turning point for Earl and Fieri’s partnership as Planet Hollywood and Chicken Guy! opened new locations in New York City.
Each location marked the restaurateurs’ official return to Times Square and one of the biggest opportunities to put Planet Hollywood and Chicken Guy! in front of a global audience.
A Revamped Planet
Earl cofounded Planet Hollywood in October 1991. It has since been recognized worldwide for its restaurants and resorts.
The first venue opened on 57th Street in New York City and moved to Time Square in 2000.
“Unquestionably the media center of the world,” Earl says. “If you want to generate press, this is the place to be, and Planet Hollywood has been designed as a backdrop for interesting media events to take place.”
The restaurant shuttered during COVID with the intent of coming back bigger and better.
Located at 42nd Street, the revamped location—backed by a $20 million investment—showcases what Earl calls a Planet Hollywood sequel. Designed to cater to various events, from intimate gatherings to large-scale celebrations, the adaptable space combines state-of-the-art technology with visual storytelling.
Upon entering, visitors are greeted by an Art Deco-inspired glowing staircase that leads to the second-floor dining area, where a canopy of illuminated stars and interactive walls create a unique ambiance. Instead of traditional memorabilia, synchronized audio-visual projections immerse diners in Hollywood-inspired scenes. The third floor amplifies the experience with HD video screens embedded in the ceiling and surrounding walls.
The venue also evolves into a vibrant nightlife destination after dinner hours with dynamic bars, signature cocktails, and DJ booths.
It’s meant to be a Planet Hollywood where people find themselves visiting once a week as a hangout spot instead of a once-per-year destination. Customers, particularly office workers, could visit for happy hour. This specific restaurant has a second life after 10 p.m., unlike the other locations.
“We cut back on the food very late at night,” Earl says. “We become more of a lounge. So from a restaurant operator perspective, it gives you more hours to make money. From the guest perspective, it’s conveying a different message of what this space is because locals normally would say, ‘I have someone from out of town coming, this is where I’ll take them.’ But now I want the locals not to wait for their out-of-town guests.”
The restaurant is already attracting attention. Whoopi Goldberg brought the cast of the Broadway play “Annie” late last year. Earl foresees Planet Hollywood hosting additional celebrity-filled celebrations and movie premieres.
“Of course one can’t come back with the same formula,” Earl says. “You have to do something fresh. And you have to take account of the new consumer, the new consumer needs, and how their life has changed, how their timing has changed, and what their interests are, where their palate has gone, what entertainment they’re watching. Are they all now TikTok fans instead of going out to AMC? You’ve got to balance all of that.”
The NYC Planet Hollywood is strategically placed near Times Square, but not in the dead center, to attract thousands of office workers in the area and New Yorkers in addition to transitory tourists.
The new location is targeting group events and the hotel banquet segment. Earl anticipates a lot of corporate buyouts where customers will take up either one room or both.
“If you’re launching a new product, whatever it is, you can just create your identity from the front door onwards and literally take over the building,” Earl says. “It doesn’t look temporary where you’ve put some screens in front of a wall.”
For the consumer, Planet Hollywood implemented a high-quality sound system and sorted through several popular music videos and movies so guests are constantly visually stimulated by surrounding screens.
The restaurant also ensures consumers can be part of celebrity culture.
“We can go film someone with our handhelds or even with our phone, and suddenly I could put on the screen, ‘Is this man the next Bachelor in Paradise?’ or whatever you want to put or ‘Is someone the next Beverly Hills housewife?’” Earl says. “So it’s going to be very fun, very interactive. If there’s a birthday, we can do something incredible—any type of celebration.”
The menu is equally as flashy. The biggest sellers are a section called “1991 icons,” which is a collection of classic items that pay tribute to Planet Hollywood’s original menu, including the World-Famous Chicken Crunch, Planet Nachos Grande, L.A. Lasagna, and St. Louis BBQ Ribs.
That’s combined with a contemporary menu offering numerous choices of appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, and other entrées. Some examples include Kobe Cheesesteak Empanadas, Prime Rib Sliders, Chicken Caesar Salad, All-American Double Smash Cheeseburger, Spicy Rigatoni Vodka, NY Strip Steak, and Lobster Pot Pie.
“When you see the menu, if you took away the name Planet Hollywood, you would say, ‘Oh, I’ve got to go there a few times because there’s so many dishes that are current, relevant, well-priced by New York standards,’” Earl says. “I think you’ll spend $40-plus at dinner. Great cocktails, two wonderful bars, very bubbly employees. It’s New York. They’re very sharp, they’re very fast. A lot of them are actors, actresses, singers, and dancers from that community, and I think the whole thing is high energy.”
Fieri views the NYC Planet Hollywood as proof of Earl’s constant willingness to evolve. The TV star believes eating out in today’s time goes far beyond the consumption of proteins and beverages. It’s also about an experience.
He adds that Earl has carefully crafted a creative visual touching experience and differentiated culinary experience in the same building.
“When you go to an iconic place like Disney or Times Square, you’re going to have two or three meals, two or three dinners in that period of time,” Fieri says. “This may be your only visit to New York or Times Square. Let’s make it a memorable one. And what could be more memorable than going to Planet Hollywood and having a chance to see all the excitement that takes place and get all the glitter and glamour that happens and then also get a chance to see the memorabilia and the story arc?”
The Future is Chicken
Over six years, Chicken Guy! has expanded to more than a dozen outlets across the U.S., including some nontraditional spots in stadiums, malls, resorts, and Los Angeles International Airport. The brand has also seen success with franchising. In April, Chicken Guy! announced that Chandhi Hospitality Group signed a 10-unit agreement to expand the concept throughout Northern California.
When Fieri and Earl had their first conversation about developing a restaurant years ago, Fieri figured it would be about burgers. Earl assured Fieri that he loved his burgers, and even labeled him as a “burger genius.” But the longtime operator emphasized to Fieri that “the future is chicken.”
Earl asked how much Fieri knew about chicken. The answer? Quite a lot.
“I said, ‘Robert, I bet you I’ve eaten more chicken and at more chicken restaurants than anybody in the country having ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,’” Fieri recalls. “I said, ‘I’ve done it all over the country. I’ve seen it.’ And he goes, ‘What do you think? What do you think chicken is?’ And I said, ‘Well, not on the bone, it’s tender. It’s a variety of salt.’ And he goes, ‘That’s what I’m talking about. Can you make that?’ I said, ‘Standing on my head.’”
It wasn’t as easy as Fieri first thought. He, chef Anthony Hoy Fong, and the rest of the culinary team spent six to nine months establishing the right philosophies. They tried 50 brine techniques and repeatedly tinkered with garlic, buttermilk, salt, and other ingredients. Once they were happy with how the chicken should be prepared, the group delved into sauces. The team began with dozens of choices, but eventually whittled it down to 10 signature sauces—Special Sauce, Donkey Sauce, Garlic Parmesan, Bourbon Brown Sugar BBQ, Buffalo, Buttermilk Ranch, Honey Mustard, Sweet ‘N’ Sour, Chipotle Ranch, and Nashville Hot Honey. All of the sauces are made in-house.
“The whole idea was, as a chef and as a restaurant owner from all different styles of restaurants, we wanted to make it so if people are going to eat something fried, breaded, and with sauces, we better make sure that it’s the best that they can get,” Fieri says. “We better make sure that we give them exciting flavors, great crunch, more chicken than breading, a good price point, and we need to be the boss of the sauce. I mean, we need to really deliver.”
There were multiple debates and arguments over a long period, but Fieri is happy with the final concept, which is a chicken product that his own family clamors for, even if it means the food travels a long distance.
“[My youngest son] Ryder was telling me, ‘Hey, I know you’re going to be at Disney and you’re going to get some Chicken Guy! Can you bring me some home?’ I said, ‘Ryder, I won’t be home for two days.’ He goes, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter. I can reheat it. It stays crispy.’ And that was the thing that we were looking at. Does it stay crispy? Have that crunch? Is it tender? Is it juicy? All this because as a chef, it had to be that. I mean, tenders you can buy at a gas station, and they can be cardboard and people still eat them. It’s like pizza. When it’s good, it’s really good, and when it’s bad people will still eat it.”
Fieri is also proud of the Flavortown Milkshake platform comprising the classic hand-spun vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, in addition to specialty flavors Apple Cinnamon Cereal, Oreo, and Triple Double Mint.
“I said, ‘We got to have milkshakes,’” Fieri says. “And Robert’s like, ‘Milkshakes take too much time.’ I’m like, ‘No, we got to have milkshakes.’ So we make some really creative milkshakes, and one of my favorites is the Apple Cinnamon Cereal Milkshake. When I would go to a friend’s house or if my parents left me for the weekend, I’d go get sugar cereal. And you’d eat the cereal, but that milk at the end was liquid gold. So we took a couple different types of cereal, steep them in heavy cream, and then we make ice cream out of that steep heavy cream of cereal milk.”
Chicken Guy! restaurants are “popping up quickly,” Fieri says. In December, two stores opened in American Canyon and Los Angeles, California.
The NYC location is Fieri’s first spot in Times Square since closing Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen & Bar in 2017. He believes it will serve as a flagship unit similar to the Disney Springs iteration and “give us a chance to really showcase what we’re doing.”
“The great thing is that our team builds beautiful restaurants,” Fieri says. “I mean really beautiful restaurants. New York has rebounded fortunately. I mean, I was very scared for the way things had taken place during the pandemic, and so many of my great friends closed restaurants there and that was heartbreaking. But listen, people are moving and shaking. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot to go see. There’s a lot to experience. There’s a lot to partake in. We were happy to be one.”
As Chicken Guy! continues its steady expansion, Fieri is committed to preserving the brand’s unique identity and high standards. He and Earl remain hands-on, with Earl managing buildouts and Fieri overseeing openings. Their approach relies on partnering with knowledgeable franchisees who can identify the best local markets while staying true to the concept’s core values.
When selecting franchisees, Guy Fieri eyes operators who share a passion for high-quality food, creativity, and a dedication to doing things the right way. While acknowledging that Chicken Guy! may not be the easiest or cheapest concept to franchise, he thinks this high standard is key to maintaining the brand’s integrity.
Also, the chicken craze isn’t going anywhere.
“It’s a neutral medium,” says Fieri, explaining why chicken has gained popularity. “There’s still people that aren’t into red meat. There’s a lot of different factions, but chicken is so neutral. Everybody likes chicken. That’s just a simple principle, and it really is adaptable. Chicken can go in so many different directions. Almost every ethnicity works with chicken, and you never really hear anybody say, ‘I don’t eat chicken.’ You’ll hear people say, ‘I don’t eat red meat.’ You’ll hear people say, ‘I don’t eat lambs.’ Even vegans and vegetarians go after making chicken-oriented vegan dishes. They have their substitutes. Chicken plays well with others. It can go anywhere. You can sauté it, you can deep fry it, you can slow roast it, you can shred it, you can barbecue it.”
Culinary Harmony
The biggest benefit of Chicken Guy! and Planet Hollywood sharing a building in NYC is the shared overhead, Earl says. By renting a building on a long-term lease and splitting the space into two operations, there are economies of scale.
The concepts have different management teams and will be marketed separately. Also, each should bring different crowds. Earl says Chicken Guy! is an impulse buy. One can eat at the restaurant, but he anticipates many DoorDash and Uber Eats orders and customers taking meals back to offices. Planet Hollywood is for those looking for a more in-depth sit-down experience.
Earl admits Planet Hollywood has lost some recognition with the younger millennial and Gen Z consumers because they haven’t grown up with it in the same way. However, he sees that as a positive because he can use the NYC location as a way to tell a new story without them being conflicted or confused.
He also doesn’t think the updated version will alienate dedicated fans of Planet Hollywood.
“I think we’re going to drive both new audiences and the people that are familiar with the brand, but we are also trying to get you to become a gaming customer of ours and a lodging customer of ours as well as a diner,” Earl says.
As for Chicken Guy!, Fieri promises the fast casual—which he calls “the baby” of his ventures—receives the focus it needs amid his busy schedule and multiple ventures. He says the concept caters to a broader shift in culinary trends in which consumers want better quality in their quick-service occasions and won’t settle for frozen, reheated meals.
As of January, there were additional locations planned for Barstow, California; Dallas; and Wesley Chapel, Florida.
Guy Fieri credits his partnership with Earl as a driving force behind the success of Chicken Guy! and their other collaborative projects. He appreciates Earl’s deep respect for culinary and that he’s always honored his vision for food. When Fieri worked to revamp the menu at Planet Hollywood, he insisted on maintaining full creative control, which Earl granted. And with Chicken Guy!, he didn’t just want to be brought in as a name.
“The great thing with Robert is Robert has an opinion about food,” Fieri says. “Robert has a great palate, but Robert in the kitchen, you know, he lets me do what I do … That guy, I think he has 25 hours on his clock and like 375 days in his year. I don’t know where he gets the time and the energy.”
