Hooters restaurants sold

The sale means that for the first time in more than two decades, Horry County’s Brooks family will not own Hooters of America.

Charlotte-based Chanticleer Holdings LLC and a consortium of investors bought the privately owned chain for an undisclosed sum, completing the transaction by Jan. 24, according to a Hooters press release.

Bob Brooks, a Loris native, bought Hooters in 1984 when it only had two locations and expanded it into a global chain. Brooks died in 2006 in Myrtle Beach, leaving his ownership of Hooters to his son, current Hooters CEO Coby Brooks, and an underage daughter. The chain was sold as part of efforts to settle Brook’s estate.

A legal battle that began in Horry County Probate Court in December between Chanticleer and a rival bidder appears set to continue, but it did not stop the sale.