Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of bar-restaurants founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton. The first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London. In 1979 the cafe started covering its walls with rock 'n' roll ephemera, a tradition now extended to the other establishments of the chain. The company was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2006. There are currently over 140 Hard Rock Cafes in over 36 countries. There is also a special one in the Rogers Centre.

History

The first Hard Rock Cafe (HRC), founded by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, opened its doors to the public on June 14, 1971, in London, England. The cafe was initially decorated with an eye toward eclectic Americana before turning to rock 'n' roll memorabilia and HRC has ultimately become the world's leading collector and exhibitor of rock 'n' roll memorabilia. Starting in 1982, Hard Rock Cafe began its expanding and opened restaurants in various parts of the globe. Morton opened HRCs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston while Tigrett opened in New York, Dallas, Boston, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Paris and Berlin, eventually selling his interest to Mecca Leisure. In 1990, The Rank Group, Plc., a London-based leisure company, acquired Mecca and continued expansion of the concept in their geographic territory. Rank then acquired Hard Rock America from Peter Morton, and Hard Rock Canada from Nick Bitove. With these acquisitions, Rank consolidated worldwide control of the brand. In March 2007, the Seminole Tribe of Florida acquired Hard Rock International, Inc. and other related entities from The Rank Group, Plc.

A second location, originally developed by an unaffiliated group and later purchased by Hard Rock International, opened in downtown Toronto in 1978 is now home to two cafes - which includes the one at the Rogers Centre (formerly known as the SkyDome) overlooking the stadium field. The first Hard Rock Cafe in the United States was a short-lived location in Tigrett's home town of Jackson, Tennessee. It was a small restaurant located in the Old Hickory Mall that functioned like any other Hard Rock Cafe with rock and roll memorabilia on the walls and Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts with the city of Michael Jackson listed on the front. The biggest cafe of the chain is located in Orlando, Florida, just outside Universal Studios Theme Park. The Cafe is decorated with instruments of well-known musicians such as guitars donated by the likes of Johnny Cash, Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Deryck Whibley (Sum 41) and has a room decorated with Elvis Presley`s Mother memorabilia. The second biggest cafe of HRC is located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Expansion into other businesses

Casinos and hotels

In 1995 Peter Parker spent $80 million to open the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino off the Las Vegas strip. A subsequent $100 million expansion nearly doubled the hotel's capacity in 1999.

In May 2006 Morton sold the Las Vegas "Hard Rock Hotel" to New York-based Morgans Hotel Group for $770 million, including the rights to the "Hard Rock Hotel" brand west of the Mississippi River, including Texas, California, Australia and Vancouver, British Columbia. Edward Scheetz, a Morgans' executive, described the 11-story, 650-room "Hard Rock Hotel" as a "trophy property" that will never be replicated in Las Vegas because of land values. The "Hard Rock" pool alone occupies land valued at $50 million. September 1, 2007 the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas announced the sponsorship of the 2004 Indianapolis 500 champion, Buddy Rice for the final two races of the 2007 IndyCar Series Season.

Today, the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida owns and operates all units except the Las Vegas facility. In 2004, Hard Rock International and Sol Melia Hotels and Resorts launched Lifestar Hoteles Espana SL, a joint venture that manages Europe's first Hard Rock Hotel in Madrid. The other joint venture hotels are in Chicago, New York and San Diego (the San Diego property includes Hard Rock condominiums). Hard Rock also operates hotels and resorts in Orlando, Florida (a joint venture with Loews Hotels); Bali, Indonesia; and Pattaya, Thailand (joint ventures with Ong Beng Seng/Hotel Properties Limited). Hard Rock International (Rank Organisation) continues to expand internationally (hotels, casinos, resorts, and now condominiums) through several joint ventures (Becker Ventures, Ong Beng Seng/Hotel Properties Limited, Loews Hotels, and the Seminole Indian Nation) including hotels in Chicago, Bali, Orlando, San Diego and planned openings in Atlanta and Penang as well as hotel-casinos in Hollywood, Florida, Tampa, Florida, Biloxi, Mississippi and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hard Rock Park - Theme Park

Hard Rock Cafe International announced in March 2006 that they licensed the "Hard Rock" name to HRP Myrtle Beach Operations, LLC, to design, build, and own a $400 million 150-acre (0.61 km²) theme park called Hard Rock Park. Hard Rock Park opened on April 15, 2008 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, closed into bankruptcy September 24, 2008, and converted to Chapter 7 liquidation January 2, 2009. The park was expected to draw an estimated 30,000 visitors per day, promised to create more than 3,000 jobs, and was billed as the largest single investment in South Carolina history. It planned to feature a large concert arena and six zones with more than 40 attractions.. But HRP Myrtle Beach Operations, LLC, filed for Chapter 11 on September 25, 2008. The company had at the time hoped to re-open in 2009 after restructuring. On January 2, 2009 after failing to attract a buyer with a minimum US$35 million bid for over 2 months, Hard Rock Park asked a Delaware Bankruptcy Court to convert their filing to Chapter 7 (triggering immediate liquidation of assets to pay off creditors) and permanently closing the park.

Seminole Tribe of Florida takeover

On December 7, 2006, Rank sold the Hard Rock business to the Seminole Tribe of Florida for US$965 million. Included in the deal are 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues, and stakes in three unbranded hotels. Rank is keeping the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in London, but has changed its name to G Casino Piccadilly. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is also not part of the deal, as it was sold by Peter Morton to Morgans Hotel Group in May 2006. The final takeover was mired in controversy, as another of the chain's suitors, Power Plant Entertainment, charged that Merrill Lynch sabotaged its acquisition efforts. On January 8, 2007, Rank Group shareholders approved the Seminoles' US$965 million offer. The Tribe expects to have finalized the deal by March 5, 2007. The Hollywood Casino/Hotel location gained some notoriety on February 8, 2007 when Anna Nicole Smith died there.

On June 22, 2008 the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida began "Vegas-style" table gambling instead of using just type-II slots. The tribe paid the state of Florida US$100 million for the 25-year pact. On July 5, 2008, the Florida supreme court ruled that the governor's agreement was unconstitutional but table games continue to operate because the Federal Department of the Interior approved the now illegal compact with the state.

Music memorabilia

Hard Rock is known for its collection of rock and roll memorabilia. The cafes solicit donations of music memorabilia but also purchase a number of items at auctions around the world, including autographed guitars, outfits from world tours and rare photographs are often to be found mounted on cafe walls. The collection began in 1979 with the gift of an un-signed guitar (a Red Fender Lead II) from Eric Clapton, who was a regular at the first restaurant in London. This prompted Pete Townshend of The Who to give one of his guitars, also un-signed with the note "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete."Hard Rock's archive includes over 70,000 items and it opened a Hard Rock museum named "The Vault" in Orlando, Florida in January 2003 but subsequently closed it in September 2004. The London Vault remains open, located near the original cafe. In 2005 Deep Purple launched their new album Rapture of the Deep in Hard Rock Cafe London. This show was released as a DVD.