Hooters Sues Competitor For Trade Secret Theft by Former Hooters Executive But Conspicuosly Omits Former Employee From Lawsuit

Hooters recently sued a competitor, La Cima Restaurants, alleging widespread misappropriation of trade secrets. That’s right. Trade secrets.

“What trade secrets could Hooters possibly have?,” you might be wondering? Well, according to Hooters, plenty.

For starters, Hooters says that the “casual dining industry operates on extremely thin profit margins.” Thus, it felt compelled to file suit when it allegedly discovered that a former Executive Vice President, Joseph Hummel, downloaded and transported to his private email address “a substantial volume of…sensitive and highly confidential business information.” Among the allegedly pilfered data are compilations of sales figures reflecting the comparative strength of Hooters restaurants, specific plans to capitalize on internal markets forecasts, and specific restaurant franchise performance data.