[ALERT] Hooters Exits Several Markets, Downtown Atlanta Among Them

So-called "breastaurant" chain Hooters closed more than 30 restaurants this week, two months after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Under the Hooters of America bankruptcy plan, 100 company-owned U.S. restaurants will be sold to a group of Hooters franchisees. The franchisees, who include Hooters’ founders, operate 14 of the 30 highest-volume Hooters restaurants in the U.S., the company said.

It remains unclear if that plan has changed or who the owner of the shuttered units was.  National reports suggest that the more than 30 closures included units in at least 14 states.  In metro Atlanta, the company shuttered restaurants at 209 Peachtree Street downtown, and 3550 Gwinnett Place Drive near Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth.  The company also closed restaurants at 6855 Douglas Boulevard in Douglasville and 1854 Club House Drive in Valdosta.   

The downtown Atlanta restaurant, located at the corner of Peachtree Street and Andrew Young International Boulevard, first opened on March 27, 2002 and was expanded and reopened as a "New Generation" unit in early 2012.  The company absorbed the roughly 5,000 square foot former McDonald's next door to become a roughly 8,300 square foot restaurant.     

In a statement, a Hooters spokesperson said the decision to close the downtown Atlanta location was not taken lightly.

Hooters was established in Clearwater, Florida in 1983 but later relocated its headquarters to metro Atlanta.  

Last June, the company closed about 40 restaurants around the country including Georgia units in Hiram, McDonough, and Brunswick, where a ground-up restaurant debuted June 17, 2019.    The company also closed its Hoots Wings by Hooters (originally Hoot's Righteous Wings) at Madison Yards in Reynoldstown. 

Following the closures, Hooters operates nine restaurants in the greater metro Atlanta area, according to its website.  Among those units that continue to operate are restaurants at Akers Mill Square near Cumberland Mall in Atlanta, Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell, Old Highway 41 in Kennesaw, and Mall of Georgia Boulevard outside the Mall of Georgia in Buford.  

Are you surprised to see Hooters close their downtown Atlanta restaurant?  What would you like to see open in place of the downtown Atlanta Hooters?  What are your current thoughts on Hooters as a brand? 

Please share your thoughts below.