First Hooters Franchisee To Sell

Louisville Courier-Journal:

Almost 2 decades after he opened the first Hooters franchise, businessman Neal Harding is poised to sell 43 of his restaurants and move closer to retirement.

Harding, 66, is still majority owner and board chairman at RMD Corp., a Jeffersontown holding company for the restaurants.

The pending sale to another Hooters franchisee based in Houston will not affect the 35 local employees at RMD, Harding said in an interview. The deal involves all 5 Hooters locations in the metro area, he said, along with restaurants across Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee.

The first Hooters opened in Clearwater, Fla., in 1983 and Harding expanded the concept as the first franchisee 5 years later with a Louisville restaurant. Read more.