Hooters restaurants keep shuttering - but the CEO calls it a comeback

Hooters restaurants are closing left and right but the CEO insists the iconic brand is making a comeback.

A group of six businessmen, who founded Hooters in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983, recently reacquired the restaurant chain after the previous owners, Hooters for America, filed for bankruptcy in 2025.

The sports bar, known for its chicken wings and female servers in revealing uniforms, is undergoing a review of its operations and remaining locations.

"It's going to take some time," CEO Neil Kiefer recently told Fox News. "Change the culture. Get the menu right. Get the uniform right. And get the physical [store] plans right."

The chain will roll out its signature buffalo wing sauce at all U.S. restaurants and have hospitality training for hosts and hostesses, Kiefer said.

The company, which has more than 420 locations in 29 countries, has closed numerous restaurants in the year since the original owners took over.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York no longer have Hooters locations , according to The Street . At least three long-standing Florida locations have shuttered this year, according to Fox News :

Jacksonville: Closed in October after 40 years

Panama City Beach: Closed in September after more than three decades

Boca Raton: Closed in February after 16 years.

Hooters is one of several well-known chains announcing closures this year.

True Food Kitchen, a restaurant backed by Oprah Winfrey, declared bankruptcy and shuttered 12 locations in October . An Applebee's franchisee that owns more than 50 restaurants filed for bankruptcy in March .

Fast-food brands are feeling the sting of fading consumer spending, too. Wendy's announced in May it was closing hundreds of restaurants after faltering sales across the U.S. Pizza Hut announced in February it was closing 250 locations across the U.S. amid a strategic review.

Consumers are cutting their dining out budgets as inflation rises and the cost of everyday essentials become more expensive.

This year, some 39 percent of adults reported eating out at least once a week - down from 47 percent in 2022 and 59 percent in 2019, according to a new Gallup survey .

Total restaurant spending has remained flat for the past three years , according to an August analysis from think tank Center for Economic Policy and Research.

That trend might continue for a few years, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said during a CNBC interview last month.

"We're not expecting that the industry all of a sudden is going to go to having robust traffic growth - we think that's going to be largely flat," he said.