Entertainment

7 Celebrities Who Own Fast Food Franchises

by Jennifer Still

I don't know about you, but I spend an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about what I'd do with my millions of dollars if I was famous. I have no desire to be famous, what with all the lack of privacy and having to leave the house so often, but the money would be pretty nice, I guess. One thing I never considered doing was investing my riches in the fast food industry; or, more specifically, in owning my own franchise of one of the many popular chains out there. That's indeed what Chris Brown did, as he revealed in a new US Weekly feature. Brown owns 14 Burger Kings, which is a pretty impressive figure and likely makes him even more profit than his main job as a singer. Smart, but he's not the first one to have had the idea. In fact, you'd probably be shocked to know just how many celebrities own fast food franchises.

In a sense, the celebrity-owned fast food franchise is a match made in heaven. The companies get the celebrity name assigned to their brand, which helps pull in new owners, and the celebrity gets a business with management built in, so they don't have to do much besides go about their daily lives and cash some checks every now and again. With that in mind, it's a wonder that every celebrity doesn't do the same. For now, here are seven celebrities who have put their cash where the drive-thru window is. The question is, do they get free french fries?

Rick Ross — Wingstop

Ross was such a big fan of Wingstop's lemon pepper wings so much that he not only rapped about them, but formed Boss Wings Enterprises and scooped up nine Wingstop franchises in Tennessee, Florida, and Mississippi. I love chicken, too, so I can't say I blame him for that.

Kanye West — Fatburger

Instead of going with one of the more popular franchises, West decided to buy a whopping 10 Fatburger locations in Chicago back in 2010, though one of those locations closed within a year. Still, nine Fatburgers is pretty impressive, and you can't go wrong with burgers.

Venus Williams — Jamba Juice

Williams is a tennis champion, but she's also smart enough to invest all those Grand Slam title prizes in a good place: namely, six Jamba Juice locations in the Washington D.C. area. I was always pretty partial to the green tea smoothie, back in the day, so I'm into this.

Peyton Manning — Papa Johns

Back in 2012, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning got serious about his love of pizza and bought up 21 — yes, you read that correctly — franchise locations in Denver. Given that Papa Johns has been the official pizza of the Super Bowl for several years, it sounds like a match made in heaven.

Magic Johnson — TGI Fridays, Starbucks, Burger King

I don't know where to start with Magic Johnson, who didn't just settle on ONE chain, but he went with tons. He owns 30 Burger Kings and several TGI Fridays and Starbucks locations, too. Basically, he's got the whole food chain on lock, and that's completely impressive.

Shaquille O'Neal — Auntie Anne's

Every time I go to Penn Station, I have to stop at Auntie Anne's for either a cinnamon sugar pretzel or a sweet almond one (sometimes both). They're delicious, so I can't hate on Shaq's decision to buy 10 locations of the pretzel business, with nine in Michigan and one in Buffalo, New York.

Jimmy Buffett — Krispy Kreme

Who doesn't love donuts? Honestly, I couldn't name one person. Thankfully, Buffett was smart enough to realize this and get in on the Krispy Kreme goodness and he now owns several locations in South Florida. I'm more of a Dunkin' Donuts girl, myself, but I wouldn't turn away a classic glazed.

As you can see, getting in on the fast food business is clearly the way to go. It's unknown how much extra revenue this is bringing in for the celebrities, but all money is good money, right?

Images: Getty Images; Giphy (7)