Food entrepreneur La-Van Hawkins died Saturday in Detroit, consistent with an assertion despatched Wednesday from his family. He turned into sixty-one. A one-time fast-meals franchise wealthy person, restaurateur, and arguable discern, Hawkins released an upscale southern eating place in Greektown in 2002, Sweet Georgia Brown, and bought a collection of metro Detroit Pizza Hut locations in 2003 for extra than $95 million. He turned into also referred to as a Detroit process issuer and served an 18-month stint in prison.
“LaVan Hawkins became a wonderful visionary leader and one of the maximum done restaurateurs and entrepreneurs …” the family stated within the statement. A company connected to Hawkins, Tremendous Brands Group LLC of Southfield, as of December 2018, aimed to deliver Habit Burger Grill places to Illinois and Indiana in a 20-keep franchise agreement. Hawkins himself hadn’t registered a business entity in Michigan since the mid-2000s, consistent with kingdom data.
Hawkins emerged at the neighborhood restaurant scene in 1998 while he bought 89 Pizza Hut locations and moved his agency headquarters to downtown Detroit. He purchased the restaurants and operated below Wolverine Pizza LLC for more than $ ninety-five million in 2003. Black Enterprise ranked his Hawkins Food Group the 12th largest African-American-owned enterprise in the U.S. That yr, in line with the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
