Hulu star who owns a restaurant on island beloved by the 1% says patrons drink cases of $4k wine and give 4-figure tips
MOVE over St. Bart’s, Grand Cayman is really for its close-up — and so is Hulu reality star and restaurant owner Frank Schilling.
Perhaps the real standout of the Hulu show Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise, however, is his hotspot, Mykonos, where Schilling dishes on serving the stars and other big spenders with The U.S. Sun.
BIG SPENDERS
“We’ve had people come in and drink us out of Mouton Rothschild wine — they’ll get a full case which is around $4,000 a bottle,” he told The U.S. Sun.
His staff have also received extra big servings of cash.
“Our servers at Mykonos sometimes get that mega tip — like a four-figure tip or something,” he said.
Of course, they also serve his very own brand of luxury Greek sparkling rose, Aphrodise.
Aphrodise is made with some of the oldest grape varietals in the world — perfect for serving his A-list guests who can regularly be seen at the celebrity hotspot.
Schilling has hosted everyone from Iggy Pop to Armie Hammer, as well as FloRida, Fat Joe, Selita Ebanks, Sam Blacky, Rico Rolando, and many other big names.
If you watch the show, you might also notice him breaking up the drama — not starting it.
LESS RAVE, MORE RELAXED
And don’t expect a massive club scene or big parties, according to Schilling — that’s so St. Barts.
“It’s not a crazy party scene. It’s more gatherings at someone’s house or an owner’s lounge type of space at somebody’s building,” he said.
Or, of course, having a night out at Mykonos.
“You get a lot of overnight people — people who have a home or are staying in one of the hotels and they’ll swoop in and entertain and swoop out,” he said.
The entrepreneur also recently sold his 130-acre hillside property — yes, an entire hillside — which is known as one of the largest and most unique landholds on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, via auction.
STARS BY THE DOZEN
It seems he gave up some famous neighbors for even more famous neighbors in Grand Cayman.
“I say it’s a strange crossroads of the world where you’ll see people that you wouldn’t see anywhere else,” he said.
You won’t see people bothering anyone for an autograph. It’s a little bit more subdued here.
Frank Schilling
“Just walking down the beach for a morning walk I once counted on my hands about five or six billionaires,” he continued.
“They get left alone here. Most don’t even come with security. It’s a neat and unusual little dynamic of safety and anonymity.
“They’re in flip flops, just relaxed and very chill, Taylor Swift, captains of industries, actors, models, race car drivers, people making things happen in the world.
“You won’t see people bothering anyone for an autograph.
“It’s a little bit more subdued here. Everybody’s here, but there’s less outward flamboyance.
“We don’t have that yacht crowd.”
KEEP THAT CASH
The German-born Schilling, who grew up in Canada, shared how he was first drawn to the island for its money-saving perks.
“There are some taxes, but they’re much, much lower if you’re really living down here,” he said.
It’s our own little utopia, and we’ve got great healthcare.
Frank Schilling
“It was legal for me to sell my business and move and reestablish myself here and rebuild my businesses,” he added.
“It’s much different than in the ’80s when people were coming down here to dodge taxes or whatever. Now it’s all an open book.
“There’s a big financial services industry here.
“There are accountants, lawyers, actuaries, specialists in finance — they all choose to live here because they get a tax advantage for themselves and their families.
“It’s our own little utopia, and we’ve got great healthcare.”
GRAND CHANGES
The show, which features local residents as well as expats, also showcases the island as its own character.
He’s also seen how much that island has morphed into a laidback yet luxurious hotspot in the 22 years since he first arrived on the grand Grand Cayman scene.
“It’s really transformed — we do still have some feral chickens running around but most of the buildings are brand new,” he said.
“It’s like Monaco and Orange County, California, had a baby, and everybody’s driving a new car,” he said.
He might have been quite the spectacle when he first arrived on the scene with a flashy Mercedes, but a fancy car is no longer an anomaly.
“Now it’s like, you can’t swing a dead cat around without hitting something good,” he said.
Still, he likes that even with all its wealth, the island doesn’t have an air of pretentiousness.
“I’d say Cayman is a really wholesome place which might seem counterintuitive because it always sounded a little intimidating from everything you hear in the movies,” he said.
He also likes how the island is still a little rough around the edges, meaning its landscape isn’t perfectly manicured like some of iits “ritzier” counterparts.
He has his own new project in the works — a port.