Hooters – known for his scarce clad waiters – is preparing to submit a bankruptcy and becomes the latest American restaurant chain with financial problems.
The American arm of the chain is preparing to restructure from Chapter 11 in the coming months, sources that are familiar with the business told Bloomberg News this morning.
Hooters has engaged Ropes & Gray law firm to help with the submission, which are expected within two months, according to the sources.
Just like other struggling chains such as Red Lobster – who applied for bankruptcy in the summer – Hooters gives the increasing costs of rent and food and customers who eat less.
In the fall it turned out that bosses in the 42-year-old chain were in urgent conversations with lenders and advisers, while the popular chain tried to tackle $ 300 million in debts.
Hooters closed around 40 'under -performing' restaurants in June, including locations Florida, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia while offering to save costs. A bankruptcy would probably lead to more closures of the 300 remaining locations.
And only this week the chain closed one of its family-friendly vulture wings of Hooter's spin-off restaurants, leaving only three left behind. The concept that will be launched in Chicago in 2017 sees dinners ordering on a counter instead of their tables.
But the biggest difference of Hoot Wings is the staff-Zowel male as female servers wear ordinary, non-degrading outfits in the counter-service restaurant.
The necklace is known for its scarce clad waitresses
Hooters recently closed around 40 restaurants
Hooters, owned by Private Equity since 2019, has had around $ 300 million in bonds to be repaid, according to data collected by Bloomberg.
These bonds are supported – a bit like mortgages – for the assets that the possession, such as his property, trademark rights and reimbursements that it gets from his franchisees. That means that money lenders can put pressure on it to sell them if debts are not reimbursed.
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy enables companies to restructure – by negotiating lease contracts with landlords and loans with banks.
Red Lobster recently came from Chapter 11 after use to close 100 restaurants and clear debts.
Hooters now has around 300 restaurants worldwide after the closures this year. That is a decrease of 333 in 2018, according to Techonomic.
Rivals Dave & Buster's, Miller's Ale House and Twin Peaks have all increased a bit at their restaurant.
At the time of the closures in the summer, Hooters was not thought that it was a terrible financial situation as Red Lobster, which has now emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The bosses even said that Hooters remains very resilient and relevant, and emphasized a new range of Hooters -Frozen Food that is sold in supermarkets throughout America.
The first Hooters opened in Clearwater, Florida in 1983
The restaurant in Sportbar style is known for its wings and scantily dressed waitresses, 'Hooters Girls'
Hooters, opened six new locations in 2023. Three in Las Vegas, and three in Florida, where the brand originated
“Like many restaurants under pressure from current market conditions, Hooters has made the difficult decision to close a select number of under -performing stores,” a spokesperson told DailyMail.com.
“We look forward to serving our guests at home, on the road and in our restaurants here in the US and all over the world.”
Dailymail.com today contacted Hooters again.
Hooters, and also known for scantily clad waitresses, also calls himself 'the original American Wing Joint', and celebrated his 40th birthday in 2023.
The first Hooters opened in Clearwater, Florida in 1983. Only last May were the restaurants open – three in Las Vegas and three in Florida.
Restaurants throughout America have had more and more trouble this year.
Faced with higher costs, they have increased menu prices – but that has led to a decrease in customers.
Large name chains such as Applebee's, TGI Friday's and Boston Market all recently closed restaurants.
Citizenfi is the last for the bankruptcy of the bankruptcy in September – Sparks Vrees for massive closures of its 162 locations.
Chains are the worst affected in California, where the minimum wage for fast food restaurants jumped to $ 20 per hour from 1 April.
At the beginning of June, Mexican chain Rubios closed 48 locations in the state and also supplied bankruptcy.
Mom-and-pop operations are also closed throughout America.
Fargo's Pit BBQ in Texas, for example, was closed after more than two decades of service -grid breast, ribs and other barbecue classics.
