Company Man asks 'The Decline of Hooters...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I made an observation and asked a question in the middle of Hooters files for bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.

Company Man Mike was right; Hooters has a controversial history! Now I'm wondering when he'll come out with "The Decline of Hooters...What Happened?"

I took less than three weeks from when I wrote that for Company Man to produce and upload The Decline of Hooters...What Happened?

The controversial restaurant has recently filed for bankruptcy. This video explores the brand's history while highlighting some of the biggest reasons behind its decline.

Here's Company Man Mike's list.


Red Lobster's and TGI Fridays' bankruptcies were and still are such big deals that they made a joint cameo under "External Factors." Company Man Mike also featured his videos about them in the outro. The pandemic also made an appearance. Check out 2020 in this chart.


That's quite the drop! In retrospect, Hooters did well lasting five years; Chuck E. Cheese, Ruby Tuesday, and Sizzler filed for bankruptcy in the middle of 2020.

Company Man Mike added the "Free Toyota/Free Toy Yoda" lawsuit, which was a bad joke, to controversies, so I'm mentioning the one time I patronized a Hooters. It was in Orlando in 2003. I went with a late friend of mine, who suggested the place. I had a good time, but never went back. I just didn't want to be associated with the brand.

Moving on to competition, Company Man Mike posted this chart.


Even at its 2008 height, Hooters with ~400 locations would have been less than a third of Buffalo Wild Wings and less than a fifth of Wingstop. Now I feel like seeing where the nearest Wingstop is to me.

Why am I not surprised that private equity became one of the changing owners?

Private equity has been responsible for so many retail and restaurant bankruptcies that I have a standard rant about it: "I listed a who's who of retail chains gutted by private equity in CNN Business explains retail bankruptcies and how private equity is gutting retail, tales of the Retail Apocalypse and again in Business Insider and CNBC explain the rise and fall of Chuck E. Cheese, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic." Add Party City, Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, and Joann to that list.

Company Man Mike didn't explicitly list private equity, but I'm sure it didn't help, given the criticism founder Neil Kiefer had of their decisions.

As for Hooters' identity crisis, I wish the chain good luck; they'll need it.

That's a wrap for this episode of tales of the Retail Apocalypse. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.