Hooters Went Bankrupt. So Why Are the Originals Still Thriving?

❗️More Burnt Empires documentaries:    / @burntempires   In 1983, six friends in Clearwater, Florida, who had never worked in a restaurant opened a wing joint as a joke. They put tombstones by the front door and incorporated the company on April Fools’ Day. Forty-two years later, the company behind most of its restaurants filed for bankruptcy with around $376 million in debt. In between, Hooters became a billion-dollar empire. It took on the federal government with a mustached man in orange shorts, sponsored a NASCAR champion and launched its own airline. It opened a casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Then it was sold to private equity, the shorts got shorter, and the debt kept climbing. There’s one detail the headlines missed. While the chain went bankrupt, a small group of Hooters locations was doing just fine, under the same name and the same owl. This is the real story of what happened, and why the answer comes down to who was making the decisions. Burnt Empires tells the stories of famous brands that were worth billions, loved by millions, and then burned down. Subscribe for the real story behind the brands you grew up with. #Hooters #BusinessDocumentary #BurntEmpires