Hard Rock Café's legal battle against its former chief executive officer Robert Earl takes the newly invigorated to a shaky place: the uncertainty of its future in front of a bitter franchise contract breach battle.
The Hard Rock Café legal battle against Robert Earl had reportedly gone on for years in the private sphere before the chain's owners, a Native American tribe called the Seminole, officially talked about it publicly. The core of the matter is that Earl, the British tycoon and former CEO of Hard Rock Café (who after his stay in the company went on to found the star-crowded 90's café with what a Vice article called "a random selection of Expendables cast members"), bought the franchise rights for a couple of restaurants in Mexico and, according to the chain's owners, reportedly was in "non-compliance with franchise standards", to use the legal terminology.
As such, the Hard Rock Café legal battle drama has ensued, after the Seminole tribe even went so far as to close one of Earl's now-unofficial restaurants in Mexico, which they announced would be a permanent measure; however, the British tycoon said in a statement that it had only been shut for one night, due to reasons completely unrelated to the Hard Rock Café legal battle.
According to a report by The Independent, the Seminole tribe has stated that Earl bought a controlling interest in these Mexican restaurants in 2001, as he acquired the group that controls and operates the cafés, Grupo ECE Mexico, plus its subsidiary Operadora DB Mexico, which is responsible for different cafésin Cozumel, Cancun, Acapulco and Cabo San Lucas.
As the Hard Rock Café legal battle ensues, the future of the fame chain, renamed Hard Rock International since the Seminole Tribe of Florida purchased it in 2007. After the Florida-based tribe acquired the chain, it has grown to new venues such as Glasgow, amounting to a total of 189 cafés, hotels and casinos in 58 different countries around the world.
