Hooters restaurants keep closing across the US. Here’s what’s really happening with the bankrupt chain’s locations and what CEO Neil Kiefer says about the closures.
Hooters Restaurants Keep Closing Across the US, But the CEO Says There’s More to the Story
Hooters restaurants keep closing across the US. Jacksonville lost its last location, Daytona Beach shut down on October 8, and longtime spots in Panama City Beach and Boca Raton have gone dark. But Hooters CEO Neil Kiefer says the closures aren’t a sign the brand is dying, and he points to a messy ownership saga as the real reason.
If you grew up in America in the 90s or 2000s, Hooters was probably part of the scenery. The orange shorts, the cold beer, the chicken wings during the game. For a lot of people, it was just… there. So when Hooters restaurants started closing one after another, it felt like the end of an era. Jacksonville’s last one just shut down, ending a 40-year run in the city. That’s the kind of thing that makes people ask, honestly, is Hooters done?
The answer is more complicated than it looks. Here’s the thing: there aren’t really two sides to this story, there are two different Hooters companies. And once you understand that, the closures start to make a lot more sense.
What Hooters Says Is Really Going On
Neil Kiefer, the CEO of Hooters Inc., doesn’t buy the “brand is fading” theory at all. He told Fox News Digital that the company is busy rebuilding the chain after the original founders took the brand back following its 2025 bankruptcy.
“The number of stores will go up and down, but the longevity of our commitment will not,” Kiefer said. “These store closures are not an indication of brand strength.”
What he’s talking about is the split personality of the Hooters business. Hooters of America, the company that had run most of the chain for decades, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in March 2025. The plan was to shift to a pure franchise model. That opened the door for the original founders, the guys who started the whole thing in Florida in 1983, to swoop in and reclaim their brand, which they did through a court-approved sale.
“While these two groups may have shared a name, they shared nothing else,” Kiefer explained. “The original founders saw an opportunity to step in and reclaim their brand, integrity and legacy.”
Since taking over, the founders’ group says it has been auditing its restaurant portfolio, and here’s the ugly part: some of the stores they inherited were, in Kiefer’s words, “in various stages of need.” That’s corporate-speak for restaurants that were losing money, needed big repairs, or sat in dead locations. Those are the ones getting cut.
The Locations That Have Already Gone Quiet
So which Hooters restaurants are closing, exactly? The list keeps growing, and the painful part is how many of them were institutions in their cities:
- Jacksonville, Florida: The last Hooters in the city closed, ending roughly 40 years of Hooters in Jacksonville.
- Daytona Beach, Florida: After nearly 40 years, the sole Volusia County location abruptly shuttered on October 8, 2026. Local servers told the Daytona Beach News-Journal the closure blindsided them.
- Panama City Beach, Florida: Closed in September 2026 after more than three decades in business.
- Boca Raton, Florida: Closed earlier in 2026 after 16 years, when the landlord declined to renew the lease.
Notice the pattern? Almost all of these are in Florida, the state where Hooters was born. That’s not a coincidence. The Florida locations were among the oldest in the system, and older restaurants in a turnaround usually get the hardest look. Kiefer was careful to say the closures are “not a reflection of the beloved staff, community or Sisterhood of the Orange Shorts,” and that they’re “not a sign of profit or decline.” Take that for what it’s worth coming from a CEO, but the franchise-heavy structure means plenty of independently owned Hooters restaurants are still open and doing fine.
A Quick History: The 1983 April Fools’ Joke That Became Hooters
You can’t talk about Hooters without the origin story, because it’s one of the best in fast food. The company was incorporated on April 1, 1983, in Clearwater, Florida, by six local businessmen with zero restaurant experience between them. They picked April Fools’ Day on purpose, because they genuinely thought the whole thing would fail. The first restaurant opened its doors on October 4, 1983, on the site of a rundown old nightclub.
Here’s my favorite detail: so many businesses had already folded at that exact location that the founders built a little “graveyard” by the front door, with a tombstone for each business that had come and gone before them. It was a joke about their own chances. The joke didn’t age well. They survived.
In December 1984, the rights to expand the concept were sold off, and that’s how Hooters of America was born as a separate company. The original Clearwater crew, now called Hooters Inc., kept control of the Tampa Bay restaurants plus a few in Chicago and Manhattan. For decades, the two entities shared a name but ran independently. That split finally blew up in 2025, when Hooters of America went bankrupt and the founders’ group, led by Kiefer, bought the brand back.
So, Is Hooters Going Out of Business?
If you’re wondering “is Hooters going out of business,” the short answer is no. The longer answer is that the Hooters you see in 2027 might look a little different from the one you remember.
Kiefer has been talking about what he calls “re-Hooterization,” which is basically the founders’ plan to drag the brand back to its roots. Think Florida beach-shack vibe, live music, community events, and a more family-friendly atmosphere. Nearly half of the 30 highest-volume Hooters restaurants in the country are already operated by his group, and his plan is to double down on the food and service rather than the old “breastaurant” image.
“It’s not a guaranteed slam dunk,” Kiefer has admitted in past interviews. “We have to win customers back, and that’s not going to happen overnight just because the court says, okay, take it over.”
That’s probably the most honest thing any restaurant CEO has said all year. The closures will likely keep trickling in as the new owners finish sorting through the portfolio. Store counts will keep going up and down. But the founders have their name back on the door, and for a company that started as an April Fools’ joke, don’t count them out just yet.
Prices last verified: October 14, 2026. Source of truth: hooters.com, the brand’s official site.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Hooters closing restaurants?
After Hooters of America filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, the original founders’ group regained control of the brand and started auditing the restaurant portfolio. Stores that were losing money or in poor condition are being closed as part of that cleanup.
Is Hooters going out of business in 2026?
No. The brand is not going out of business. CEO Neil Kiefer says closures are a normal part of restructuring and that the founders are actively rebuilding the chain under their ownership, with a plan called “re-Hooterization.”
Who owns Hooters now?
The original founding group, operating as Hooters Inc. out of Clearwater, Florida, regained control of the brand after Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025. Neil Kiefer, who was the founders’ attorney back in 1983, is the CEO.
Which Hooters locations closed recently?
Recent closures include the last Hooters in Jacksonville, Florida (ending a 40-year run), the Daytona Beach location (closed October 8, 2026, after nearly 40 years), Panama City Beach (September 2026), and Boca Raton (earlier in 2026 after 16 years).
