Coyote Ugly founder Liliana ‘Lil’ Lovell has lifted the lid on the wild success of her infamous bar – and the iconic film it inspired – as the New York institution celebrates its 30-year anniversary.
‘One of the things I’m most proud of is more of the business end. [Friday] is 30 years in New York, but [this week] was 21 years of Coyote Ugly New Orleans. I’m very proud of that – the business end of it.’Lil began bartending when she was at university and stuck with it while also landing a job on Wall Street, before opting to take on the career full-time, and has never looked back.
It wasn’t all drinking and dancing, as Lil insisted that there was a lot of hard work involved – including many days where she started work at 9am, and didn’t arrive home again until following morning. ‘The things that bugged me are one, never in a million years would I buy the whole bar a round. Never!‘And then at the end, my character closes the whole bar down just to go see her play. Who the f**k in their right mind would do that? Nobody.
Just before the film was released, Lil actually considered opening her very own organic, healthy food chain, with the hopes of turning it into a franchise – but switched gears at the perfect time, focusing on opening Coyote chains around the country, with locations in Tampa, Daytona, Las Vegas, Nashville and more.She also took steps to make her brand international, opening up bars in the UK, Russia and Germany so far – not to mention a reality TV show, merchandise and alcohol.