Hooters suddenly closes several Georgia restaurants months after bankruptcy filing

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The Hooters in downtown Atlanta has abruptly closed. (FOX 5)

ATLANTA - Restaurant chain Hooters abruptly shut down dozens of its US locations this week, months after the chain filed for bankruptcy.

The closures include at least four locations in Georgia.

SEE MORE: Staff at popular Atlanta restaurant say they were blindsided by sudden closing

The backstory:

In March, HOA Restaurant Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas, becoming the latest legacy restaurant chain to run into financial trouble.

Under the Hooters bankruptcy plan, 100 company-owned U.S. restaurants would be sold to a group of Hooters franchisees. The franchisees, who include Hooters’ founders, currently operate 14 of the 30 highest-volume Hooters restaurants in the U.S., the company said.

The company, which is based in Atlanta, claimed that franchisees or licensing partners would continue to operate all existing locations, including those outside the U.S. There are approximately 305 Hooters restaurants in 29 states and 17 countries, according to court filings.

What we know:

USA Today reports that the chain's restaurants in downtown Atlanta, Douglasville, Gwinnett, and Valdosta are among the 30-plus locations that have shut down.

A sign on the downtown restaurant said that its locations on Cobb Parkway and in Jonesboro would remain open. 

A sign on the closed Hooters in downtown Atlanta (FOX 5)

In a statement to USA Today, the company said that the decision to shut the locations down was a "difficult decision."

A Hooters spokesperson said that the company was "committed to supporting our impacted team members through the process."

The spokesperson did not say if employees were notified of the closures ahead of time.

Dig deeper:

The company's business strategy has faced challenges over the years, including lawsuits over hiring only "Hooters Girls" to serve customers. In 2017, the company tried opening a restaurant that didn’t feature servers in tight tops as a test of a different approach to its original concept.

Last year, Hooters agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a race and color discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to the lawsuit, a Hooters in North Carolina laid off 43 employees during the COVID pandemic, but recalled primarily white employees and Black employees with lighter skin tones once it began rehiring workers.

The company has also been forced to scale back as its financial woes began to mount. 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. Last year, the company closed around 40 underperforming U.S. locations.

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.