Hooters Shutters 40 Restaurants

Hooters (Atlanta) has closed 40 locations amid a challenging operating environment, report several news sites, including Nation’s Restaurant News.

Reports of abrupt closures in markets from Louisville, Ky., to Bryan, Texas, to Lakeland, Fla., began circulating early this week. In all, about 40 restaurants around the U.S. have been shuttered, according to a variety of news reports.

The company subsequently confirmed the closures to Nation’s Restaurant News, while also ticking off a variety of growth initiatives, in this statement:

“Like many restaurants under pressure from current market conditions, Hooters has made the difficult decision to close a select number of underperforming stores…

“With new Hooters restaurants opening domestically and internationally, new Hooters frozen products launching at grocery stores, and the Hooters footprint expanding into new markets with both company and franchise locations, this brand of 41 years remains highly resilient and relevant. We look forward to continuing to serve our guests at home, on the go and at our restaurants here in the U.S. and around the globe.”

According to Technomic Ignite, Hooters finished 2023 with 293 restaurants, down from 333 at the end of 2018, NRN reports. As for the latest closures, according to published lists based on locales that the casual dining brand’s website showed as closed, Texas was the most-impacted state, with 16.