Hooters closed its last restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida, after 40 years of operation. This closure follows a series of shutdowns across the state as part of Hooters' bankruptcy restructuring process that began in March 2025. The company aims to refocus on its original brand roots and shift towards a predominantly franchise-operated model.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Hooters shutters last location in Florida town after 40 years amid chain’s bankruptcy restructure
asserted
Hooters → shutter → restructure
Hooters has lost its last restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida, marking the latest longtime location to disappear as closures continue following the chain’s bankruptcy restructuring.
asserted
closures → lose → restructuring
The Hooters on San Jose Boulevard was permanently closed after operating in Jacksonville for four decades, according to local reports.
uncertain
Hooters → close → reports
The restaurant, which opened in 1986, was the last remaining Hooters in the Jacksonville area, WJXT-TV reported.
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TV → open → area
Its closure leaves Hooters without a location in northeast Florida and creates another sizable gap in the restaurant chain’s footprint in its home state.
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closure → leave → state
The northernmost Hooters on Florida’s Atlantic coast now appears to be in Daytona Beach, according to the company’s online restaurant locator.
uncertain
Hooters → appear → locator
Hooters confirmed to Fox News Digital that the restaurant had closed but didn’t elaborate.
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restaurant → confirm → Digital
The Hooters in Panama City Beach closed its doors in September after more than 30 years in business, according to a post on its Facebook page.
uncertain
Hooters → close → page
The closure leaves Pensacola Beach as the chain’s remaining outpost in the Florida Panhandle.
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closure → leave → Panhandle
Another Hooters in Hickory, North Carolina, also closed in late September after years in business, according to a report by the US Sun.
uncertain
Hooters → close → Sun
The recent shutdowns come months after the closure of the Hooters in Boca Raton, Florida, which had developed a large social media following.
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which → come → following
That restaurant closed in February after 16 years when its landlord declined to renew the lease, the restaurant’s operator previously told Fox News Digital.
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operator → close → Digital
Its departure created another significant gap along Florida’s Atlantic coast, with no Hooters locations between Fort Lauderdale and West Melbourne, about 150 miles apart.
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departure → create → Lauderdale
The scattered closures come after Hooters underwent a major restructuring that dramatically reduced the iconic restaurant chain’s footprint.
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that → scatter → footprint
Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2025 as the company struggled with debt and changing consumer habits.
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company → file → debt
After the Clearwater, Florida-based Hooters Inc., which founded the original Hooters concept in 1983, and another franchise ownership group assumed control of the brand, dozens of restaurants across multiple states were subsequently closed as part of its restructuring efforts.
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dozens → base → efforts
In June 2025, Hooters announced the closure of a “select number” of restaurants, telling Fox News Digital at the time that such decisions are “never easy.”
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decisions → announce → time
The company emerged from bankruptcy with a strategy centered on a predominantly franchise-operated business model that returns Hooters to its original roots.
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that → emerge → roots
Hooters Inc. CEO Neil Kiefer previously told Fox News Digital that the brand had become oversexualized, and he hoped to reemphasize the food and hospitality while broadening the appeal to families and younger customers after years in which some corporate locations had become, in his words, “little boys’ club stores.”
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locations → tell → words
Despite the restructuring, individual Hooters restaurants are continuing to close in 2026.
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restaurants → continue → 2026
The Hooters in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which opened in 1994, closed in May, according to local reports, and the Mall of America Hooters in Minnesota closed in March after 33 years, FOX 9 in the Twin Cities reported.
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FOX → open → Cities
Hooters has also opened a new location in Florida and has plans to open at least one more.
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Hooters → open → more
The Villages location, a retirement community about 45 miles northwest of Orlando, opened with much fanfare in July 2025, becoming the first new restaurant since the bankruptcy restructuring.
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location → open → restructuring
A planned location in Lutz near Tampa is coming soon, according to the Hooters website.
uncertain
location → plan → website
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