Random Fashion Cafe Was Planet Hollywood For The Modeling World (14 items)

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  (#1) Famous Supermodels Were The Faces Of The Restaurant

  When founder Tommaso Buti approached Elle Macpherson in 1994, he offered between $50,000 and $100,000 per public appearance at his new restaurant, Fashion Cafe. Buti then enlisted Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell soon joined as well. A year later, Christy Turlington decided to make the group a foursome.

  The models were meant to help promote the idea of a restaurant based on fashion, glamour, and entertainment. However, the connection between models and food wasn't a strong one - something observers readily noted.

  Journalist and author Michael Gross stated, "the project seemed a bit ridiculous to me: themed restaurants were a tourist attraction.” Brand Failures author Matt Haig echoed these sentiments, adding that fashion "was not a theme that made people feel hungry." 
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  (#7) Fashion Cafe Sold More T-Shirts Than Anything Else

  The Fashion Cafe made most of its money on, well, fashion. According to reports, the cafe sold almost 30,000 t-shirts within the first four months of opening in New York City. Shirts cost $16 and hats were $18, but there were higher end items as well.

  A varsity jacket sold for $225 and a motorcycle jacket was too much for reviewer Phil Rosenthal to mention when he wrote about the business in 1995. Even today, a vintage Fashion Cafe jacket will cost you around $100. 
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  (#2) The Menu Was Full Of Dishes Named After Models

  The models involved with the Fashion Cafe had some input into the food on the menu. Elle Macpherson added shrimp on the barbie (aptly called Elle's Shrimp on the Barbie), Naomi Campbell's Fish and Chips made the cut, and Claudia Schiffer contributed apple pancakes, called Pancake Claudia.

  Claudia's New York Strip was a noteworthy contribution to the menu, but most of the food was not highly regarded. There were some fun options for visitors, however, including the Fashion Tarte. 
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  (#14) Fashion Cafe Wasn't Tommaso Buti's First Restaurant

  While making wealthy and influential friends during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tommaso Buti simultaneously started investing in eateries in New York and Florida. In 1991, Buti set up a sandwich service in World Wide Plaza in New York City - with the help of wealthy leather business heir Ippolito Etro - before starting a deli the following year. At one point, his deli was said to serve more than 1,000 lunches each day and be worth about $10 million.

  He also opened an Italian restaurant in Miami and linked up with his brother in real estate during the early 1990s. Buti began working with noteworthy clients, like Merrill-Lynch and Chase Manhattan, all leading up to the establishment of the Fashion World Company, described by journalist Giselle Benatar as a "real estate, travel, and restaurant firm" in a 1995 New York magazine article.
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  (#13) The Buti Brothers Were Indicted On 51 Counts Of Fraud

  All Fashion Cafe locations closed by the end of the 1990s. Naomi Campbell and Elle Macpherson's assertions that the Butis had taken money from the company to maintain their extravagant lifestyles were only part of the problems for the pair.

  In 1998, the federal government charged the Fashion Cafe chain with not paying taxes, and the Department of Labor accused the business of not paying premiums on their unemployment insurance. They also owed Rockefeller Center back rent and neglected to pay their attorneys' fees. 

  In 2000, Tommaso and Francesco Buti faced 51 counts of fraud, including money laundering, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud. The men allegedly transferred investment money into their private accounts, only to spend it on vacations, cars, and real estate. According to the findings, this began as early as 1994 and lasted through 1998, when Tommaso resigned from the company.

  By 2000, however, both men had fled the United States. Tommaso and Francesco were taken into custody in Italy in 2000. Neither was ever extradited, however.

  Tommaso faced still more legal trouble when he and his ex-wife, Daniela Peštová, became embroiled in a battle over their 6-year old son, Yanick, in 2003. Tommaso accused Peštová of preventing Yanick from making court-ordered visits.
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  (#12) Tommaso Buti Wasn't As Well-Off As He Pretended

  Individuals who knew Tommaso Buti before his Fashion Cafe days indicated he "didn't have two pennies to rub together" when he arrived in the United States. And his family life was not as affluent as he wanted others to believe. Buti himself claimed he had $8,000 when he got to the states.

  Buti was reportedly the youngest son of working-class parents - his mother owned a clothing store, and his father made bottle caps - and a poor student who described himself, according to New York magazine and Vogue Italia, as both "a two-plus-two kind of guy" and a "playboy-King Midas." 

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