There were so many downers in the newspaper today - kind of like Super Bowl week for a sports reporter. An embarrassment of riches. But this one...stealing business secrets from Hooters. That's pretty low. Around here there's a Hooters that has kids eat free on Tuesdays. Moms line up for miles to bring their kids in there. Hooters isn't the worst place in the world, but the food is pretty bad. The wings in particular are awful. So if they are making any money at all it's with the hot chicks and the free food for kids and stuff like that. These secrets have to be respected. Bad enough they are calling this new business "Twin Peaks" - but ripping off an icon of a tiny niche of the food industry, the American soft core porn titillation restaurant? Is any great idea safe? It's a scary thought for people with ideas, or even thoughts.
Hopefully there will justice for all here, and to the Republic, for which it stands, and Hooters.
The Hooters of America restaurant chain filed a federal lawsuit in Atlanta this week claiming that a former executive swiped mounds of documents to help an upstart competitor that plans to expand the Twin Peaks franchise.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Wednesday said former Hooters vice president Joseph Hummel downloaded reams of "sensitive and highly confidential business information" to help La Cima Restaurants, an Atlanta-based firm that plans to help build 35 Twin Peaks stores across the Southeast.
Both chains are known for scantily clad women serving casual food, but there's nothing sexy about the documents that Hooters claimed Hummel took. The lawsuit claims that Hummel downloaded marketing plans, contract agreements, recruiting tools and sales figures before and after he left the company to join La Cima on July 22.
"The casual dining industry operates on extremely thin profit margins," it said. "As a result, every operational advantage ... is a jealously guarded business secret."
[Associate Press]
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