'There's no other way to describe it than it is struggling,' Allen said.
Being seen as more than a dated tourist attraction to millenials was already a challenge, and the coronavirus just compounded that problem.
In a July 2020 interview with CNBC, chairman Jim Allen didn't mince words and said the brand was 'barely open' in certain markets. Hard Rock had been a fixture in Vegas for 25 years, and if Hard Rock Cafe can't thrive in a touristy party city like Las Vegas, where can it thrive? Perhaps most troublesome was the brand's decision to close its Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel. Neither of these closures could be blamed on the pandemic. In the years since, the chain has had to close even more longstanding locations such as the Detroit location that had been open 15 years and the Phoenix location that had been open for 24 years. As CBS noted in 2010, the recession hit the chain hard with numerous closures, and a widening reputation for having overpriced, mediocre food didn't help amidst the rise of foodie culture.
