Nothing was a more concrete illustration of how the public felt about Tom Sandoval than the hit his business took. Schwartz & Sandy’s, the bar he opened with Vanderpump Rules star Tom Schwartz, was effectively “canceled” by fans angered by his affair with Rachel Leviss.
Schwartz & Sandy’s was boycotted and flooded with poor reviews. Now, Schwartz is talking numbers. And in a recent interview, revealed exactly how much of a hit his revenue stream took.
Schwartz called the fallout “a spectacle”
“This year almost broke me,” Schwartz exclusively revealed to Entrepreneur. “I’m glad we persevered, [but] there was a moment there I wasn’t sure if we were going to.”
“Our names are on the side of this building, which comes with a certain responsibility,” Schwartz added. “I’ve never experienced such a concentrated dose of negativity, especially online. It was a spectacle.”
Indeed, Schwartz often spoke of the toll public wrath took on him. It wasn’t just the emotional reaction, but a fear of losing his business.
Entrepreneur asked him what the “immediate effects of the real-time fallout” were.
Schwartz’s business partner, and long-time restauranteur Greg Morris was also on hand to discuss the numbers. When the bar first opened in November 2022, they were pulling a “modest 60% of the revenues forecasted.” The coming weeks saw consistent growth.
“Immediately following Scandoval, though, we saw a quick rise in business, but it was short-lived,” Greg explained. “After experiencing a 30% increase in our revenue numbers within four to five weeks, we watched as our numbers declined precipitously. Week after week we watched the numbers tumble, sometimes down 50% per week. At our lowest, we dropped approximately 80% of our business.”
Schwartz added, “People really rallied against us. We discussed rebranding or temporarily shutting down.”
“Keyboard critics” were relentless, according to the VPR star. The restaurant went from “great reviews” of “4.6 stars” to around “2.5 stars.”
“It’s really detrimental to businesses — cancel culture and keyboard critics. It was such a bizarro world experience to be in. People were irate; they were fired up. Things got dark and weird,” Schwartz said.
What’s next for Schwartz & Sandy’s?
Now that the eatery is out of the red, Schwartz has a “newfound sense of optimism and excitement.” And that translates into a refresh at Schwartz & Sandy’s.
“We’re working on new food right now, new drinks, and a new music program. We’re going to do some subtle redesigns, we’re also working on something to tie all these [VPR] places together. People call it the “Vandercrawl,” so we’re putting together a little tour for Tom Tom, Jax’s Studio City (owned by former castmate Jax Taylor), and Schwartz and Sandy’s. It’s in motion, and I think people are going to really dig it. It’s going to be special,” Schwartz revealed.
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