Las Vegas Hooters Bankruptcy Won't Impact Hooter’s Restaurants

Hotel Bankruptcy Won’t Impact Hooter’s Restaurants
By Rachel Feintzeig

This week’s bankruptcy filing by the owner of Las Vegas’s Hooters Casino Hotel may have given some devotees of the risqué restaurant chain a start. After all, the name of their beloved eatery, self-proclaimed as “delightfully tacky yet unrefined,” was splashed on headlines across the country as news of the filing made waves.

Fortunately, patrons can take comfort in the following assurance, straight from hotel owner 155 East Tropicana LLC.

“This action in no way affects the operation of the more than 430 Hooters Restaurants in 44 states and 27 countries which are owned or franchised by Atlanta based Hooters of America LLC,” it said in a statement released late Monday.

155 East Tropicana, formed in 2004 to acquire property that would become the world’s first Hooters-themed hotel and casino, has an exclusive license to splash the brand across its venue. But its own financial struggles are not a reflection of the popularity of “Daytona Beach wings”—which can be ordered in the “three mile island” level of spiciness at Hooters establishments across the country—or low-cut tank tops stamped with the iconic orange owl logo.

No, the hotel casino’s troubles have more to do with the economic downturn that’s kept visitors from flocking to Las Vegas over the past several years and motivated rival hotels to slash room rates, according to its bankruptcy filing.

115 East Tropicana “has been faced with declining hotel and casino revenues based on increased price and promotional competition, additional properties opening on the Las Vegas Strip, reduced consumer spending, a tightened credit market, and an overall weakened economy,” the company’s chief financial officer said.