News

Twin Peaks Shuts Down Its Waco Restaurant

by Melissah Yang

nine people dead, 18 injured, and 192 arrested as the fight escalated inside and spread into the surrounding parking lot. Officials said the restaurant would be closed for a week to prevent future violent incidents, but on Monday, Twin Peaks said it would shut down the Waco restaurant by revoking the restaurant's franchise license, according to local station KWTX. In a statement the restaurant chain said:

Unfortunately the management team of the franchised restaurant in Waco chose to ignore the warnings and advice from both the police and our company, and did not uphold the high security standards we have in place to ensure everyone is safe at our restaurants.

Authorities said the Waco restaurant was the setting for a recruitment event and were quick to call out the Twin Peaks location for not fully cooperating with police prior to the shootout. Police spokesman Sgt. Patrick Swanton said the restaurant's management didn't appear to be concerned with the gangs' presence. Swanton also went on to say the deadly confrontation could have been avoided had the restaurant's management helped.

We have attempted to work with the local management to get that cut back to no avail. They have not been much assistance to us. Apparently the management wanted them here and so we didn’t have any say-so on whether they could be here or not.

The "breastaurant" uses a mountain sports lodge theme and employs scantily clad female servers, similar to Hooters. The restaurant chain relies on a franchise model, in which it awards licenses for business owners to use the brand. The initial cost for a Twin Peaks restaurant ranges from $1.3 million to $2.4 million depending on the restaurant's size and location, with the franchise fee at $50,000, according to the company's website. The Waco Tribune-Herald said the Waco restaurant opened late last summer in Central Texas Marketplace.

Bustle's calls for comment from the restaurant chain and the Waco location were not immediately returned Monday. The Twin Peaks Waco location's Facebook was unavailable as of Monday. Soon after the shootout, the corporate Twin Peaks' official Facebook page posted a statement condemning the fights as "senseless violence."

We were shocked by the shootings that took place in the parking lot of our franchised restaurant in Waco and are still in the process of reviewing all the circumstances surrounding it. We are thankful no employees, guests or police were injured in this senseless violence outside the restaurant, and our sympathies are with the families of those killed.

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