WNBA players starting to invest in food industry

NEW YORK (AP) — Whether it's to plan for their future once basketball is done, promote healthy living or just to have some fun, WNBA players such as Sue Bird and Maya Moore are getting involved in the food industry.

Bird has invested in restaurants in the Northeast for over a decade, getting started when UConn coach Geno Auriemma presented the opportunity for his former players to buy into his place at the Mohegan Sun.

The Seattle Storm guard tries to stop by the restaurants when she's in town, although she admits for now she's mostly a silent investor.

The pair bought into their first food franchise last year, a Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Virginia.

Beard spent a lot of time, after helping Los Angeles win the WNBA championship this past fall, learning the ins and outs of the business, even learning how to make the pizzas.

Beard got a firsthand look at franchising in 2010 when she spent three months as an intern at Jamba Juice's executive development program.

Unlike Bird, Beard and Coleman, Angel McCoughtry is going out on her own, opening an ice cream shop in Atlanta this spring.

McCoughtry said she was lactose intolerant growing up and wanted to make sure she had ice cream for people who couldn't normally enjoy the frozen treat.