Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of
casual dining restaurants. It was founded in
1971 by
Isaac Tigrett and
Peter Morton, and their first Hard Rock Cafe opened near
Hyde Park Corner in
London, in a former Rolls Royce car dealerships showroom close to
Hyde Park, where in 1979 they began to cover the walls with rock 'n' roll
ephemera.
The cafe was reportedly named after side one of
The Doors' 1970 album,
Morrison Hotel, which was in turn named after a now closed
bar in down town
Los Angeles depicted on the back cover of
Morrison Hotel. The Hard Rock Cafe's motto
Love All, Serve All was adopted from Tigrett's guru
Sathya Sai Baba.
Expansion around the world
A second location opened in downtown
Toronto in 1978.
[http://www.hardrock.com/corporate/press/content.aspx?id=28] (Toronto is now home to 2 cafes).
The chain began global expansion in
1982 when the two agreed to develop their own cafes across the world. Morton opened Hard Rocks in
Los Angeles,
San Francisco,
Chicago, and
Houston while Tigrett did so in
New York City,
Dallas,
Boston,
Washington, DC,
Orlando,
Paris,
Berlin, and
Sydney. Eventually Tigrett sold his interest to Mecca Leisure.
In
1990, The
Rank Organisation (now
The Rank Group) acquired Mecca Leisure and continued expanding the cafes, acquiring the cafes owned by Morton a few years later. There are more than 143 Hard Rock Cafes in over 36 countries at current date, with several more in the works. Hard Rock was most popular in the
1980s when it was a common hobby to visit as many locations as possible and collect a Hard Rock t-shirt bearing their logo and the location name. Now pin collecting is the current rage.
Expansion into other businesses
Hard Rock has now started building hotels and casinos, attracting more visitors around the world. These include:
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Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida
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Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa
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Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Biloxi (original opening in September 2005 delayed indefinitely due to
Hurricane Katrina)
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Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
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Hard Rock Casino, London
Hard Rock International announced on March 31, 2006 that it would be constructing
Hard Rock Park, a theme park, at
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to be opened in Spring 2008.
[http://www.hardrock.com/corporate/press/content.aspx?id=149] Construction on the park began on July 13, 2006 with a groundbreaking ceremony.
In recent years, critics say Hard Rock's direction has shifted. What was once an independently-spirited, musically-influenced chain has "gone commercial." The music videos that are piped into all the cafes from a central location are more a mix of pop music and rock-and-roll. Where once one might see a rare
Beatles record, now hangs
Britney Spears' waitress outfit from a music video clip (as in Hard Rock
New Orleans).
Hard Rock is better known for its atmosphere than its food. The cafes not only solicit donations of music memorabilia, but also purchase a number of items at auctions around the world. Hard Rock has the world's largest collection of such items. Memorabilia like autographed guitars, outfits from world tours and rare photographs are oft to be found mounted on cafe walls. The collection began in 1979 with the gift of a un-signed guitar (a Red
Fender Lead II) from
Eric Clapton, who was a regular at the first restaurant in London.
Pete Townshend of
The Who got wind of this and sent in one of
his guitars, also un-signed. Attached was a note: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete." Hard Rock has so much material in their archive that they opened a Hard Rock museum named "The Vault" in
Orlando, Florida. It closed in
2005. The Vault's legacy continues in Orlando where
Tony Hume and
Jeff Nolan give daily guided tours of the world's largest
Hard Rock Cafe and explain a basic introduction to the history of
rock 'n' roll.
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List of cities with Hard Rock Cafes*
Official site*
Hardrockcafes.info*
Case Study about Hard Rock Cafe, Isaac Tigrett and Spiritual Leadership*
Hard Rock Cafe Pin site
