The National Basketball Association season tipped off last week. But Dennis Rodman, the former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers star rebounder, is turning his efforts to becoming a player in the restaurant business.
Rodman, who’s lived in Newport Beach since 1996, said he is about to take over the Sloppy Joe’s restaurant and nightclub in the Irvine Spectrum. Rodman said he plans to change the name and the concept: “I want a different flavor, a Las Vegas feel at the Spectrum.”
Rodman said the new concept could include an appetizer-based menu and entertainment with “drag queens and midgets.”
Since February, Rodman has owned Josh Slocum’s, a popular restaurant, bar and nightclub on Newport Beach’s Mariner’s Mile.
“I want to find something to do that’s real creative,” Rodman said from his home last week. The star forward had just returned from touring with the rock band Live and was getting ready to leave for a Las Vegas trip.
Rodman, known as “Worm,” said he is looking at opening restaurants in other cities, such as his hometown of Dallas. According to Doug McAllister, Rodman’s business manager, the flamboyant bad boy has “a lot of roots back there, so we’re probably going to do these two restaurants out here, probably one in Dallas and one in Vegas.”
McAllister said the goal is to have those restaurants running in the next 18 months.
“I’m looking at cool places,” Rodman said, while baby Dennis Jr., the youngest of his three children, cooed and gurgled in the background. “I’m not trying to make this a household name (or) brand. It will be something fun, new and different.”
Rodman said his restaurants would include dining, dancing and “good-looking girls, a different flavor.” He said each restaurant’s feel would depend on where it is based.
McAllister said that Millennium Group, the Orlando, Fla.-based franchiser of Sloppy Joe’s, will remain involved in the Irvine restaurant. But the group will be “taking a back seat.”
Sloppy Joe’s, with 8,500 square feet of space and a 3,000-square-foot patio, is more than twice the size of 3,600-square-foot Josh Slocum’s.
Sloppy Joe’s will get a new name in about six weeks, Rodman said, mentioning that he likes “Fat Monkey Martini Bar.” McAllister said he likes “Rodman’s Roadhouse.”
“That’s a clich & #233;,Rodman’s OK, whatever,” Rodman said when asked why he prefers not to use his own name on his restaurants. “People know me for other things. I don’t want to be a ‘see monkey, do monkey.’ I want to be different.”
Rodman said he leaves operations and financial details to others. But he will design and decorate each restaurant, create the menu and make the final call on all hiring.
“My role is the creator, the guy who makes it happen. I want to focus on the atmosphere,” Rodman said. At Josh Slocum’s, “I did everything,” he said.
Josh Slocum’s is on target for 12-month revenue of more than $3 million, according to McAllister.
“With Christmas coming up, we’re renting it for $20,000 to $30,000, depending on what night it is, for private parties, for the boat parade,” he said.
Rodman, who also played with the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, infused about $500,000 into Josh Slocum’s.
“We were running it by March 1. (The previous owners) catered his house parties,” McAllister recalled. “We always liked it. It was always really quiet, but we changed that, of course.”
McAllister said he has known Rodman for about six years and has a background in running restaurants and a strip club.
In other business activities, Rodman said he is gearing up for the release this month of a video, “Dennis Rodman’s Stripper’s Ball,” and a promotional appearance with Howard Stern. A record label also could be in the works, he said.
Rodman even said it was likely that he would “be back on the court,” but did not mention any specific team.
Rodman’s interests, all of which fall under an umbrella organization called the Rodman Group, include a stake in Rodman Excavation Inc., a Dallas construction company with around 400 employees, and Rodman Casino, an online gaming operation. Rodman has a warehouse in Orange where he stores 14 cars and other items. The Rodman Group also has offices there.
Rodman took some time to discuss his infamous image, which has led him to several brushes with the law and plenty of media coverage. In fact, several Josh Slocum’s regulars have reportedly started wearing T-shirts saying “Let Dennis Have Fun.” And there was talk at one time about Rodman running for city council in Newport Beach.
“I’m not a bad person. Dennis Rodman is perceived as a bad person. I don’t hurt anybody,” he said.
But Rodman acknowledged that “the negativity of Dennis Rodman” makes him money and that he can’t be a “goody-two-shoes” like friend and former teammate Michael Jordan, now making a comeback with the Washington Wizards.
Rodman also discussed lifestyle issues, noting that he is about to become a father again.
“I love Orange County,it’s good to me,” he said. “I’m hoping to be here a long time.” n
