The US restaurant chain Hooters, famous for its chicken wings and revealing waitress uniforms, has filed for bankruptcy.
On Monday, the HOA Restaurant Group filed for Chapter 11 protection in North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.
The organization is experiencing financial difficulties due to mounting debts, but says it plans to remain open and work through its problems in the coming months.
The original founding group, which owns nearly a third of Hooters restaurants in the U.S., including about half of the largest locations, intends to acquire and operate more restaurants, Hooters said in a press release.
“Our iconic Hooters restaurants will remain with us, and we are taking steps to strengthen our business to better serve our valued customers for the long term,” the company said in a statement on its website.
Hooters, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983. Problems had been building for some time.
Hooters had been a sponsor of the No. 9 Nascar car driven by Chase Elliott since 2017, but Hendrick Motorsports ended its partnership with the longtime sponsor last year due to financial defaults.
The company's business strategy has faced challenges in recent years, including lawsuits over its reliance on “Hooters Girls” to serve customers.
Last year, the company agreed to pay $250,000 (£193,000) and provide other relief to resolve a race and colour discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against a Hooters restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 2022, the restaurant dismissed rumors of closing and rebranding due to changing customer preferences.
In 2019, the Hooters hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip was sold to an Indian hotel company and renamed OYO Hotel and Casino.
In 2017, the company attempted to open a restaurant where waitresses did not wear skimpy tops, as an experiment to test an alternative approach to its original concept.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
