Founder Liliana Lovell | ||
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Founded 1993, New York City, New York, United States Profiles | ||
The Coyote Ugly Saloon is an American drinking establishment and the namesake of an international chain of bars. It served as the setting for the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly.
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History
The original Coyote Ugly Saloon opened January 27, 1993, in New York City, after New York University alumna Liliana Lovell declined an internship on Wall Street for a career as a bartender. Lovell held several bartending jobs during college and perfected a routine of dancing on the bar, singing, and challenging customers to drinking contests. Changing the way bars were staffed, she began hiring young women and training them in the wild routine, which included such antics as chugging alcohol, setting it ablaze, then breathing fire. While some of these "Coyotes" were good at singing, others good at dancing, and others good on the microphone, Lovell found that not all the women were talented in each of the three aspects, so she often paired women with complementary abilities.
Company growth
In 2001, the second Coyote Ugly Saloon opened in Las Vegas at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, as a franchise operation. In 2002, a new company-owned bar opened in New Orleans' French Quarter. In 2003, Lovell relocated from New York City to New Orleans to run the bar and be involved in the day-to-day corporate operations of the company from there.
In 2004, the company opened additional corporately owned locations in San Antonio, TX, Austin, TX, Nashville, TN, and a franchised location in Panama City, FL. In 2005, the company opened an additional corporately owned location in Denver, CO and another in 2006 in Memphis, TN. In June 2009, the first new Coyote Ugly in three years opened in Oklahoma City. In 2009, Coyote Ugly began their International Franchise program with a multi-unit license deal in Russia and opened their first franchised bar abroad in Moscow, Russia and another in Kolblenz, Germany with a different party. Following the Moscow opening, the franchisees in Russia opened in St. Petersberg, Russia in 2010 followed by Kazan, Russia in 2011 and Yekaterinburg, Russia in 2012. In 2014, the company opened their newest bar in San Diego, CA. In 2015, the Coyote Ugly franchisee in Russia opened their fifth location in Sochi. Currently, Coyote Ugly is scheduled to open new bars abroad with recently signed franchise agreements in the UK, Kyrgyzstan, and Japan as well as the next corporately owned bar in Ft. Worth, TX. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan is scheduled to open in mid-September, 2016 followed by Cardiff, Wales in the UK in early October, 2016 and Ft. Worth in November, 2016. These new openings will bring the number in the chain to 24 (as of 2016).
Movie based on the company
The bar reached national prominence in 1997 when former bartender Elizabeth Gilbert wrote of her experiences in an article for GQ magazine, titled "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon". Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's company bought the rights to the story from Lovell, and he produced the movie Coyote Ugly, based on the article. The film was shot on a set in Los Angeles, with exteriors filmed in Manhattan. Coyote Ugly opened in August 2000 with Maria Bello in the role of Lovell and Piper Perabo as an aspiring songwriter in New York City who becomes the newest "Coyote". It grossed more than $110 million worldwide.
Other
From 2006 to 2008, CMT ran three seasons of The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search produced by Touchstone Television. The first two seasons saw a group of prospective employees paired with a serving Coyote in the hope of getting a job at the bar and a cash sum for them and their partner. The final season changed the format with the contestants competing to get a place on the traveling Coyotes troupe – five Coyotes who could be booked to bar-tend and entertain at corporate, sports, and music events.