Hooters In Four States Sold

Earthtimes:

Today Hooters of America, Inc. announced that its oldest franchisee, R.M.D. Corp. of Louisville, Kentucky has reached an agreement for the sale of its assets to a corporation headed by one of its International Franchisee groups. The buyer is an entity which controls the franchisee rights for Australia and New Zealand and currently operates 2 Hooters Restaurants in Australia. South Pacific Partners, Ltd (SPP) has entered into a letter agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of R.M.D. Corp. (RMD). SPP is the operating arm of Australian Enterprises, L.P. (AE), the Hooters franchisee for Australia and New Zealand.

RMD is owned by Neal Harding, who opened the first ever Hooters franchise location in Louisville, Kentucky in 1988. Today the RMD franchise group consists of 39 Hooters in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. The transaction includes the 39 restaurants, certain real estate holdings and the future development rights for Hooters within the 4 states.

Mike Flinn, a principal of AE and SPP stated, ‘The opportunity to combine our operations with RMD’s will allow us to leverage economies of scale and accelerate growth. RMD has built a business over the past 20 years which has unparalleled operations, great infrastructure and a very committed team of highly qualified personnel. In addition, there is a considerable amount of growth we can pursue, in RMD’s territory, along with our existing plans for expansion in Australia and New Zealand.’ On a combined basis, the new company will operate 41 Hooters restaurants and expects to open several locations in 2008. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.