The high flier of Planet Hollywood surveys the world's cultural landscape

This is just a normal week, says Robert Earl, and he will be in Orlando, New York, London, Dubai and Riyadh. The point is not the millions of frequent flier points he has notched up, but that he gets to survey the cultural landscape pretty much everywhere.

"Don't kid yourself this global village thing has happened," he says. "If Polygram makes a recording with a band, whoever it is, it's everywhere."

Everyone, he says, is trying to influence everyone else in every other country; Planet Hollywood sees itself as part of the means by which what is current emerges.

"The company's belief is that music, sport and movies transcend all international barriers, and that there isn't a global household that those three mediums don't touch in some form or other," Mr Earl says. "We don't see ourselves as merely in the restaurant business; we're establishing a trade mark, a brand, in each of those three sectors."

So far, he's done it with spectacular success, first with the Hard Rock Cafe, which he expanded rapidly, then with the theme-restaurant chain he founded with Hollywood producer Keith Barish seven years ago. Planet Hollywood, which opened last year in Dublin and celebrates its fifth birthday in London this month, has taken a fall on the stock exchange in recent months, but still has a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion.

There are 80 branches, with another 10 Official All-Star Cafes, a newer theme-restaurant venture based around sports stars. Some are more than restaurants, and have mutated into movie theatre complexes, hotels and even casinos. Half the chain is owned by its cofounders, with another 17 held by stars of the silver screen such as Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. The rest is owned publicly.

The restaurants are filled with movie memorabilia for customers to examine, and are occasionally visited by a real-life star.

He is constantly looking out for new ways to expand the themes. Recently, the company bought the 1,700-bed Pennsylvania Hotel, opposite Madison Square Garden in New York. It is being rebuilt and re-branded as an Official All-Star Hotel and Cafe.

"The theme is fitness and health," says Mr Earl, warming to his subject. "As you check in we give you a stress test, when you go up to your room there's an exercise bike in there and we have a nutritionist that will visit you."

Another plan centres on the music business and is set to become a rival to his former company, the Hard Rock Cafe. Mr Earl plans to open a chain of music restaurants, with live venues for bands. This, he hopes, will attract the perfect mix of local and tourist trade.

The first one will open in London's Leicester Square at the end of June; Mr Earl says he already has the name of the new brand, but won't reveal it.

However, in a hint that it may include the star attraction of U2 and other top bands who have been linked to Irish show business accountant Ossie Kilkenny, he adds: "The infamous Mr Kilkenny has been guiding me!"

While he clearly has great affection for many Irish friends, his love for Dublin is also driven by business.

"So far we are right on target with all our expectations for Planet Hollywood in Dublin (located on St Stephen's Green). You have a great city I've been coming there for years and years and I have a lot of friends there," he says. "I feel that you are an absolutely hot city at the moment; everyone wants to do business with you. There's a buoyancy there, a very high energy level, and a lot of global retailers continue to look at your market."

Buoyancy, however, has been lacking from Planet Hollywood's own figures in recent months, taking charges the equivalent of £30 million. The company is still expected to make around £35 million.

"At the time we went public, about two years ago, the price went off the Richter Scale," explains Mr Earl. "Our price to earnings ratio was over 60."

The company was also expanding rapidly there were 30 new Planet Hollywoods in 1997. He believes that something had to give.

"The numbers I delivered were not good last quarter," he admits. "My personal view is that I had my eye a little off the ball, and that we were concentrating on expansion as opposed to looking after the day-to-day."

"This year we chose to consolidate, to grow slowly. We're going back to the old restaurants and giving them some tender loving care," he adds.

He rejects any notion that his stars are getting past their sell-by dates, but says that he has to recruit new celebrities to maintain the same level of personal visits to restaurants.

"We are aggressively signing new stars it would be fair to say that they are a reflection of all the new up-and-coming ones," Mr Earl says, but will not reveal any names.

He is less upbeat about the world economy, and specifically the effects of the financial crisis in the Far East.

"People are still ignoring the knock-on effects in Asia. Operating in Asia myself, I see the downturn in travel, the natural desire to save one's money, the substantially reduced spending power and flow of money in all those economies."

One small indicator, he says, is in the frightening drop in Hong Kong's hotel occupancy rates.

"I'm not reading it yet. But I can see it, and I can see it in my own business," he adds. "As a consequence, production is going to cut back in all of the businesses that supply those economies."

This spells trouble for the rest of the world: "Because the market is so frothy everywhere, it doesn't take much to spook it. Once one sees those results becoming public knowledge, there will be a ripple effect through everyone's economy."

A keen supporter of British prime minister Tony Blair he gave £1 million sterling to the Labour Party Mr Earl is more reticent on the subject of Europe's single currency, claiming to have "no view on that".

On Irish politics he leans towards Fianna Fail: "I'm a big fan of Bertie's I've met him several times."

Any donations there yet?

"I haven't given him any money he hasn't asked me."