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
