Former Hooters CEO bringing new breastaurant to bay

TAMPA BAY — La Cima Restaurants LLC has signed an agreement with Dallas-based franchisor Front Burner Restaurants LP to bring the Twin Peaks restaurant concept to the Tampa Bay area.

La Cima will develop the franchise areas of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, opening a minimum of six Twin Peaks restaurants in the area.

In 2012, La Cima opened its first Twin Peaks restaurant in Atlanta, followed by five additional locations in the Southeast spanning five of its six-state territory. The company is on schedule to open eight new restaurants, one every month, beginning in September with the Twin Peaks in Pensacola.

“We understand the strength of the Twin Peaks brand and the markets the restaurants perform well in, and we feel that the Tampa market has tremendous and valuable growth potential,” Coby Brooks, La Cima Restaurant LLC founder and a former CEO and president of Hooters of America LLC, says in a press release. “Our territory previously included Orlando, so it made sense operationally to take over the neighboring Florida market.”

Twin Peaks is a mountain-lodge-themed sports restaurant known for its Twin Peaks girls. The restaurant was named a “2010 Hot Concept” by Nation's Restaurant News and was included among Restaurant Business magazine's 2011 “Future 50” concepts and 2013's Top “Social Media 50” brands. Front Burner Restaurants, unrelated to Front Burner Brands in Tampa, has five other restaurant concepts: The Ranch at Las Colinas, Ojos Locos Sports Cantina, Red Dog Right, Whiskey Cake and Velvet Taco.