Hooters of America<\/strong>, the iconic sports bar and grill chain, filed for bankruptcy on Monday in Texas after accumulating $376 million in debt<\/strong>, according to Reuters. The company plans to sell 151 corporate-owned restaurants<\/strong> to a buyer group that already operates 30 Hooters locations, pending court approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The buyer group includes original Hooters founders<\/strong> and franchisees who aim to take the brand \u201cback to its roots.\u201d Neil Kiefer, CEO of the original Hooters in Clearwater, Florida, said the group has \u201ca profound understanding of our customers\u201d and a strategy to exceed their expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atlanta-based Hooters joins a growing list of casual dining chains facing challenges from inflation, rising labor costs<\/strong>, and changing consumer habits. Its private equity backer also owns TGI Fridays<\/strong>, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2024 citing lingering effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the financial restructuring, Hooters has no plans to close any locations<\/strong>. The company says it will maintain operations and continue delivering the \u201cguest-obsessed hospitality experience\u201d it has built over four decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hooters currently operates 305 locations<\/strong> globally\u2014151 corporate-owned<\/strong> and 154 franchised<\/strong>. In Michigan, the chain has restaurants in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to its bankruptcy plan, Hooters expects to exit Chapter 11 in three to four months<\/strong>, following the completion of the transaction with the buyer group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company confirmed there will be no changes to its menu<\/strong> or brand identity as part of the restructuring. Hooters remains committed to its core offerings, including its famous chicken wings and signature customer service experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHooters is here to stay,\u201d the company said in a statement on its website. \u201cWith a stronger financial foundation and streamlined operations, we are well-positioned for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chain aims for swift exit and promises no closures Hooters of America, the iconic sports bar and grill chain, filed for bankruptcy on Monday in Texas after accumulating $376 million in debt, according to Reuters. The company plans to sell 151 corporate-owned restaurants to a buyer group that already operates 30 Hooters locations, pending court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10772,"featured_media":9887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1300,1292,1294,1302,1295,1298,1299,1301,1293,1297],"class_list":{"0":"post-9886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-casual-dining-crisis","9":"tag-hooters-bankruptcy","10":"tag-hooters-chapter-11","11":"tag-hooters-corporate-sale","12":"tag-hooters-menu","13":"tag-hooters-michigan-locations","14":"tag-hooters-restaurant-sale","15":"tag-hooters-restructuring","16":"tag-neil-kiefer","17":"tag-tgi-fridays-bankruptcy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9888,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886\/revisions\/9888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgazette.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Restructuring amid industry-wide struggles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Michigan locations and overall footprint<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Menu and branding to stay intact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n