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HOA
Restaurant Group filed the motion for Chapter 11 protection
Monday in the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.
The company ran into financial woes as its debts mounted, but it
says it intends to stay open and resolve its troubles within
months. A group of the company’s original founders that own
almost a third of Hooters’ U.S. locations, including about half
of its biggest volume restaurants, plans to buy and operate more
of the outlets, Hooters said in a news release.
“Our renowned Hooters restaurants are here to stay and we are
taking action to strengthen our business to better serve our
valued customers over the long term,” the company said in a
notice on its website.
Hooters, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in Clearwater,
Florida, in 1983. Trouble had been brewing for a while.
Hooters had sponsored the No. 9 NASCAR car driven by Chase
Elliott since 2017, but last year, Hendrick Motorsports ended
its ties to the longtime sponsor because it was not meeting its
financial commitments.
Its business strategy has faced challenges over the years,
including lawsuits over its hiring of only “Hooters Girls” to
serve customers.
Last year it agreed to pay $250,000 and provide other relief to
settle a race and color discrimination lawsuit brought by the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against a Hooters
outlet in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 2022, the restaurant refuted claims it was shutting down and
rebranding due to changing customer tastes.
In 2019, the Hooters hotel-casino off the Las Vegas Strip was
sold to an Indian hotel company and rebranded as the OYO Hotel
and Casino.
In 2017, the company tried opening a restaurant that didn’t
feature wait-staff in tight tops, as a test of a different
approach to its original concept.
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