Liliana Lovell

Liliana "Lil" Lovell is an entrepreneur, best known as the founder the Coyote Ugly Saloon and Ugly Inc.. Lovell is the host of the reality TV show "The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search". In the 2000 movie "Coyote Ugly", she was portrayed by Maria Bello. [cite web
title = Ugly News
url=http://www.coyoteuglysaloon.com/news/newstx.html
accessdate = 2008-01-20 ]

Background

Liliana Lovell grew up in Westchester county, N.Y..cite web
last=Ian
first=Mount
title=Things are Getting Ugly
url=http://www.inc.com/magazine/20031101/ugly.html
accessdate = 2008-01-21 ] She graduated from New York University with a degree in psychology and communications. During college, she worked as a bartender in New York City. While working on Wall Street as an investment banking intern, she made $200 a week. After making $300 a night pouring drinks, she started bar tending at a cowboy bar, the Village Idiot, to make money full-time.cite web
last=Fitzpatrick
first=Kevin
title=Coyote Ugly
url=http://www.nycbp.com/bartenders/bar3/index.html
accessdate = 2008-01-21 ] Lovell managed the Idiot for three years,cite web
last = Kramer
first = Louise
title = Liliana Lovell |url=http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=23&year=3&pid=24
accessdate = 2008-01-20 ] where she perfected her unique routine of dancing on the bar, singing, and challenging customers to drinking contests. She learned her business model "beautiful girls + booze = money" from her boss, and notorious bar owner, Tom McNeill. Lowell left to start her own bar with partner, and now husband, Tony Piccirillo. They leased a failed Italian eatery across the street from the Idiot and opened the Coyote Ugly Salooncite web
last = Kramer
first = Louise
title = Liliana Lovell |url=http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=23&year=3&pid=24
accessdate = 2008-01-20 ] on January 27, 1993. Modeled after the Village Idiot, Coyote Ugly was one of the original cowboy concept bars in the Village. Others, like Doc Holliday's, Red Rock West, Yogi's, and Hogs and Heifers, soon followed.

Coyote Ugly Saloon

The Coyote Ugly Saloon was a popular New York City bar from 1993 to 1997. [cite web
last = TV.com
title = Summary
url=http://www.tv.com/liliana-lovell/person/566281/summary.html
accessdate = 2008-01-20 ] In 1997, the bar was propelled into the national spotlight when former bartender Elizabeth Gilbert wrote of her experiences in a story for Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine, called "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon." In the article, she described Lovell's idea of a Coyote bartender:

(Early in my own Coyote Ugly Saloon career, I made the mistake of saying to a customer, "Here's your beer, sir." Lil overheard and shouted, "Don't ever call anyone in this place 'sir'!" So I said, "I'm terribly sorry. I meant to say, 'Here's your beer, douche bag.' " Lil and the customer laughed. And I thought, Oh, I get it, but I am a very quick study.) Some bartenders were friendly but not relaxed, so they didn't last. Some bartenders were gorgeous but not sexy, so what's the point? Some bartenders laughed a lot but were not funny themselves, so that didn't work, either.

She hired young women and taught them her wild routine, which included such antics as chugging alcohol, setting light to it, and then breathing fire. While some girls were good at singing, others good at dancing, and others good at yelling, Lovell found that not all the girls were talented in each of the three aspects, so she often paired girls with complementary abilities.

Coyote Ugly Movie

See "Coyote Ugly (film)"

Disney bought the rights to Gilbert's story and turned it into the movie "Coyote Ugly", produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. "Coyote Ugly" is a romantic comedy/drama released in August 2000 (See 2000 in film). The film stars Piper Perabo and Adam Garcia with a small role by Tyra Banks. It was directed by David McNally and written by Gina Wendkos. Lovell was played by Maria Bello. The film grossed over $61 million and received mixed reviews.

Tourists began packing the bar after the release of the movie looking for a re-creation of the experience.

Ugly Inc.

Building on the national exposure, Lovell created Ugly Inc., a licensing company. The company follows a standard licensing scheme, in addition to a $50,000 fee, licensees pay 5% of gross sales and 25% of merchandise sales. In October, 2001, the first expansion bar opened in Las Vegas, Nevada, inside the New York, New York casino. Others were opened in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and San Diego. Lovell, herself, opened another bar in New Orleans.

As she planned to expand internationally, she discovered that Jorge Manterola, brother of Mexican singer Patricia Manterola, had set up a website for Coyote Ugly's "master franchise" in Latin America. The website claimed: "Just like you have seen in the movie, there will be very preety [sic] and sensual women from all over the world serving drinks, dancing on the bar, and doing the most funniest and unimaginable things." Lovell responded with legal action which resulted in a deal. She helped Manterola open a Coyote Ugly in Cabo San Lucas on the condition that he paid license royalties. While she could revoke the license if Manterola didn't pay, she had little control over the bar's operations.

In 2002, Ugly Inc. had revenues of $1.5 million from licensing fees and royalties. As of 2003, the nine bars collectively generated between $22 million and $24 million annually and employed 300 people. Building on her Cabo experience, Lovell decided to maintain controlling interest in all future Coyote Ugly Saloons in an effort to protect the brand.

The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search

In 2006, Lovell began hosting "The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search", a reality TV show on Country Music Television (CMT). The premise of the show involved Lovell auditioning young women to become the next "coyote". With the help from a few of her "coyote mentors", Lil trained girls to become bartenders, dancers, and all around entertainers. The winner received $25,000 and the title of "Ultimate Coyote". cite web
last = TV.com
title = Show Summary
url=http://www.tv.com/the-ultimate-coyote-ugly-search/show/69780/summary.html
accessdate = 2008-01-20 ] As of 2008, the show was in its third season.

In 2007, the series reappeared on CMT Canada. This time around, the series was based on teams. Lil chose five of her best Coyotes from bars across the country. Each of those coyotes would then hold auditions at their home bars to find teammates for the competition. The teams for the competition were:

Team New York won in 2007, and were awarded $50,000. As of 2008, the show was in its third season.

External links

* [http://www.coyoteuglysaloon.com/101/gq01.html Elizabeth Gilbert's article, "The Muse of Coyote Ugly"]
* [http://www.coyoteuglysaloon.com/home.html Coyote Ugly]

References