By coinnews 
00:00 Josh Lipton
Restaurant chain Hooters of America filing for bankruptcy. That move coming to enable a founder-led buyout of the casual dining chain. Joining me now is Hooters of America CEO, Sal Melilli. Sal, it is good to see you. So, uh, you filed for bankruptcy today, Sal. Um, listen, being in the restaurant space, a lot of challenges, not easy, especially right now, inflation and labor costs, Sal, and American consumer that seems to be feeling more cautious. But but walk us through what happened here.
00:54 Sal Melilli
Yeah, yeah, thanks Josh. Appreciate you having me on today. And and you’re exactly right, right? The the macroeconomy, uh, the casual dining sector has been under a lot of pressure, right? The last several years, inflation, food cost challenges, labor, uh, the pressure on the consumer. Our consumer is brand loyal. We have an outstanding brand, but, you know, they too have been punished coming through this inflationary time. So, you know, all those cost pressures, you know, obviously related to our business, put the pressure on us to lead us to where we are today.
01:48 Josh Lipton
And and so now, Sal, the plan is a group that includes the founders buys the company owned restaurants?
02:02 Sal Melilli
Absolutely. Super exciting day for the brand here, right? And that is exactly the headline. We’ve got two large operators, the most successful ones in the entire system. One of them happens to be the original founders of the group out of Clearwater, Florida, you know, 42 years of experience, operating 15 out of the top 30 restaurants around the globe. So we could not be more excited for our customers. We cannot be more excited for our employees that this group is coming in and and who better than the founders of the concept to take this brand and return it back to where it was.
03:02 Josh Lipton
And Sal, are are you all detailing what the purchase price was?
03:14 Sal Melilli
Uh, we’re working on those details now. We have entered into a restructuring support agreement. Uh, we’re actually heading into first day motions tomorrow in the northern district of Texas, hoping to get some approval on some dip financing. We’ve got $35 million of new incremental capital coming in and that’ll provide the liquidity and the runway that we need to then effectuate this plan.
03:54 Josh Lipton
And Sal, give give us a sense of how big the Hooters footprint is right now in April 2025. I mean, how how many locations, Sal, across the country?
04:12 Sal Melilli
Yeah, great. We have a little over 300 today as we sit here. We operate in 22 states. We’ve got 151 corporate owned stores. We’ve got about 154 international stores and we operate in about 17 different countries around the globe.
04:41 Josh Lipton
And and the plan, Sal, to reiterate is those locations stay open?
04:53 Sal Melilli
Absolutely. We are open for business, uh, especially depending where your bracket is. We’re in the middle of March madness. So, uh, we are open for business, people are excited, business as usual at a store level. Our brand loyal customers are ready and they’re engaged. And we’re really heading into baseball season, the masters. So, yeah, we are business is normal and in full swing.
05:26 Josh Lipton
So this buyers group that steps in now, Sal, what what’s their plan for Hooters? What’s their plan for the brand, for for the locations? How does it change, if at all?
05:48 Sal Melilli
Yeah, it’s a great opportunity, right? We’re talking about the folks that started this concept that have made it what it is today. So from a brand perspective, there’s going to be reinvestment in the units. You’re going to see return to original food items. You’re going to see the world class famous Hooter girl that has been on a pedestal for 42 years being showcased and featured. There’ll be investments in the units. There’ll be investment in marketing. So I think you’re going to see a complete Renaissance. We like to say it’s the rising of the owl here, coming out of the ashes. So we’re super excited as a brand. Our consumers and employees could not be happier.
06:43 Josh Lipton
I was reading, Sal, the New York Times talked about this obviously and they talked about a rebrand that would give Hooters a more, as they put, wholesome image. What what does that mean exactly, Sal?
07:06 Sal Melilli
Yeah, look, I mean, Hooters has always prided itself on being a neighborhood restaurant, right? We’re a tremendous compliment to the sporting industry. And and when you look around the globe, you do see in different parts of our business where, you know, we have women, we have children, we have families, we have retirees that play golf and have dinner because they got to be in bed early, right? So we’ve got a great customer mix and I think by returning to those roots, it’s going to really enable us to launch the business, put it back in the hands of the original founders and some of the top operators in the system. And and who better than them to launch the business forward.
08:08 Josh Lipton
Sal, who’s the Hooters demo right now? Who’s your average customer? You know, give me the profile. And has that evolved at all over time, Sal?
08:26 Sal Melilli
Yeah, it has evolved. That’s a great question. I mean, if you think back 43 years ago, traditionally it was the World War II baby boomer and that generation. But then there’s the next generation that grew up there, coming to Hooters with their dad. We see retirees. We we do a wings for children program around education in the city of Chicago. Um, we see teachers, we see firefighters, we see first responders. Um, so we really are a great cross-section of America and I think that’s going to continue and it’s going to be accelerated under the new ownership.
09:22 Josh Lipton
And and Sal, you were mentioning how many locations you have across the country. I’m just curious. Are there are there certain regions or states, Sal, certain locations that tend to kind of perform better than others?
09:43 Sal Melilli
Yeah, good question. You know, we started in Florida and a lot of our footprint is in the southeast. Um, yet ironically the Chicago, for example, has some of the top performing stores in our system. We’ve got units that do, you know, six, seven, eight million dollars in unit selling just chicken wings and beer. So it really comes down to store execution. It’s all about the brand, the way that brand is portrayed. I learned a long time ago, it’s not what you think about a brand, it’s how you feel when you interact with it. And that’s our job to return it to the glory and I think this new ownership is absolutely going to deliver on that.
10:33 Josh Lipton
Sal, great to have you on the show today, sir. Thanks for your time.
10:39 Sal Melilli
Hey, thanks for having me, Josh. Good to see you.