"Breastaurant" Trade Secret Allegations Filed

The Huffington Post is reporting that Hooters, the restaurant chain featuring hot wings and scantily clad servers, has sued La Cima Restaurants for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and other competitive misdeeds in its hiring and utilization of a former Hooters executive now associated with La Cima. The name of La Cima's up-and-coming establishment? Twin Peaks. That is not a misprint.

Hooters alleges Joseph Hummel, Hooters’ former vice president of operations and purchasing, gained unauthorized access to its computer databases and stole competively-sensitive trade secrets to benefit La Cima, where Hummel now works as a partner and chief operating officer. The complaint alleges “Hummel took, and La Cima now possesses, a wide variety of trade secrets and other confidential and proprietary business information belonging to Hooters — information that will endow a competitor like La Cima with significant competitive advantages relative to the company.” Hooters also alleges that other executives conspired with Hummel to resign en masse, saying "Hummel and his former executive colleagues coordinated the timing of their departures from Hooters, and have formed La Cima to exploit their knowledge of Hooters’ trade secrets and confidential business information and thereby compete unfairly against Hooters.”

This is Friday and its a beautiful day outside so we'll leave the rest of this story to your imagination as the Hooters v. Twin Peaks litigation continues . . . .