hard rock cafe disambiguation . hard rock hotel and casino redirects here . for other uses see hard rock hotel and casino disambiguation . hard rock cafe international inc. type private industry casual dining restaurants casinos hotels founded june 14 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 06 14 piccadilly london u.k. headquarters orlando florida u.s. key people hamish dodds president ceo john galloway cmo tom gispanski cfo isaac tigrett and peter morton founders owner seminole tribe of florida website www.hardrock.com hard rock cafe international inc. is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by isaac tigrett and peter morton in london . in 1979 the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia a tradition which expanded to others in the chain . in 2007 hard rock was sold to the seminole tribe of florida and is headquartered in orlando florida . 1 2 as of december 2015 there were 191 hard rock locations in 59 countries including 157 cafes 22 hotels and 11 casinos . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 restaurants 1.2 music memorabilia 2 expansion into other businesses 2.1 casinos hotels and racinos 2.2 hard rock park 2.3 hard rock stadium 3 acquisition by the seminole tribe of florida 4 list of locations 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit restaurants edit hard rock cafe located on broadway in the heart of times square big guitar sign at hard rock cafe beirut lebanon huge guitar at hard rock cafe new delhi hard rock cafe signage at the printworks manchester hard rock caf in temple bar dublin hard rock caf pin tbilisi grand opening hard rock cafe yankee stadium the first hard rock cafe hrc opened on 14 june 1971 in piccadilly london under the ownership of young americans peter morton and isaac tigrett . hard rock initially had an eclectic decor but it later started to display memorabilia . the chain began to expand worldwide in 1982 with locations in among others toronto los angeles san francisco chicago paris and berlin . 4 hard rock cafe locations in the united states vary from smaller more tourist driven markets biloxi pigeon forge key west etc. to large metropolises houston philadelphia new york city chicago boston washington dc etc. . hard rock cafe typically does not franchise cafe locations in the united states . all us cafes are corporate owned and operated except for cafes in tampa and four winds new buffalo casino . 5 however in the transition of the las vegas hard rock hotel property originally owned and then later sold to rank by founder peter morton . morton retained hotel naming rights west of the mississippi . when morton sold his las vegas hard rock hotel to the morgans group he also sold those naming rights which then gave rise to two u.s. franchise hotels without cafes in albuquerque and tulsa . the albuquerque hotel no longer pays for the hard rock rights and reverted to its former name in june 2013 . more hotels franchised off from morgan s are planned for sioux city and vancouver . in 1990 the rank group a london based leisure company acquired mecca leisure group and continued expansion of the concept in its geographic territory . rank went on to purchase hard rock america from peter morton as well as hard rock canada from nick bitove . after the completion of these acquisitions rank gained worldwide control of the brand . in march 2007 the seminole tribe of florida acquired hard rock cafe international inc. and other related entities from rank for us 965 million . 1 in 2008 anonymous members of the wait staff criticized the business because of its practice of paying them less than half the official minimum wage in the uk with the business allocating tips to staff to bring their salaries within the law . most customers it was argued do not realize that they are subsidizing a low wage when they give the tip . 6 music memorabilia edit jon bon jovi s guitar on display at the cafe in moscow hrc is known for its collection of rock and roll memorabilia . the cafes solicit donations of music memorabilia but also purchase a number of items at auctions around the world including autographed guitars costumes from world tours and rare photographs ; these are often to be found mounted on cafe walls . the collection began in 1979 with an un signed red fender lead ii guitar from eric clapton who was a regular at the first restaurant in london . clapton wanted management to hang the guitar over his regular seat in order to lay claim to that spot and they obliged . this prompted pete townshend of the who to give one of his guitars also un signed with the note mine s as good as his love pete . 7 hard rock s archive includes over 77 000 items and is the largest private collection of rock and roll memorabilia in the world . marquee pieces from the collection were briefly displayed in a hard rock museum named the vault in orlando florida from january 2003 until september 2004 . after the closure items were disbursed to various restaurant locations . 8 the london vault remains open and free to visitors located in the retail rock shop of the original cafe . 9 in 2005 deep purple launched its new album rapture of the deep in hard rock cafe london . this show at the release party itself was released as a dvd . 10 the hard rock caf is also in possession of a bedford val 6 axle coach used in the 1967 film the beatles magical mystery tour . the vehicle was completely refurbished after filming . it is currently displayed in the us but makes regular appearances in events in the uk especially at the original hard rock cafe in london . in 2001 a competition was run to win the actual bus but it was never given away and remained with the cafe . expansion into other businesses edit casinos hotels and racinos edit hard rock hotel macau hard rock cafe melaka in 1995 peter morton spent 80 million to open the hard rock hotel near the las vegas strip in las vegas nevada . a subsequent 100 million expansion in 1999 nearly doubled the hotel s capacity . 11 in may 2006 morton sold the hard rock hotel & casino las vegas to morgans hotel group for 770 million including the rights to the hard rock hotel brand west of the mississippi including texas california australia and vancouver british columbia . 12 the hotel began another expansion in 2007 at a cost of 750 million . the project added 875 rooms in two towers and expanded meeting space . 13 in march 2011 morgans surrendered control of the property to partner brookfield asset management citing the high debt on the property in the face of the economic downturn . 14 today the seminole tribe of florida owns and operates all units except the las vegas tulsa sioux city and vancouver properties . in 2004 hard rock international and sol melia hotels and resorts launched lifestar hoteles espa a sl a joint venture that intended to manage europe s first hard rock hotel in madrid but it was never opened as a hard rock property upon the dissolution of the joint venture in 2007 . 15 the other joint venture hotels are in chicago new york and san diego the san diego property includes hard rock condominiums . hard rock also operates hotels and resorts in orlando florida a joint venture with loews hotels ; bali indonesia ; and pattaya thailand a joint venture with ong beng seng hotel properties limited . hard rock international continues to expand internationally including hotels casinos resorts and condominiums through several joint ventures becker ventures ong beng seng hotel properties limited and loews hotels including hotels in chicago bali orlando penang san diego singapore and planned openings in abu dhabi cancun dubai hungary panama punta cana and vallarta 16 as well as hotel casinos in hollywood florida ; tampa florida ; biloxi mississippi ; las vegas nevada ; and tulsa catoosa oklahoma . 17 the hotel zoso in palm springs california is being converted into a 160 room hard rock hotel with the transition expected to be completed by 2014 . 18 a location in atlantic city new jersey was planned but canceled . 19 all inclusive resorts operate under the hard rock brand in mexico and the dominican republic . in 2013 the hard rock rocksino northfield park opened as joint slot machine and track venture . the rocksino is located near cleveland the company have plans to expand to the city of bogot in colombia where s a caf and a city that hard rock love the hotel has been planned to be in the famous centro internacional but hard rock are interested with points like salitre plaza zona t where hard rock cafe bogota is chapinero usaquen titan palace as well . international locations include hard rock casino at the printworks in manchester united kingdom hard rock hotel at the city of dreams in macau hard rock hotel at the resorts world sentosa in singapore hard rock hotel penang hard rock casino vancouver in coquitlam british columbia canada hard rock hotel and casino in punta cana dominican republic hard rock hotel in panama megapolis panama city panama hard rock hotel in c ncun mexico hard rock hotel in goa india hard rock park edit in march 2006 hard rock cafe international announced that it had licensed the hard rock name to hrp myrtle beach operations llc to design build and operate a 400 million 150 acre 0.61 km2 theme park called hard rock park . hard rock park opened on april 15 2008 in myrtle beach south carolina . the park was expected to draw an estimated 30 000 visitors per day promised to create more than 3 000 jobs and was billed as the largest single investment in south carolina history . it planned to feature a large concert arena and six zones with more than 40 attractions . hrp myrtle beach operations llc filed for chapter 11 on september 25 2008 . the company hoped to re open in 2009 after restructuring . 20 on january 2 2009 after failing to attract a buyer with a minimum 35 million bid for over two months hard rock park asked a delaware bankruptcy court to convert the filing to chapter 7 triggering immediate liquidation of assets to pay off creditors and closing the park . 21 new owners renamed the venue freestyle music park and planned to reopen retaining a music theme but without the hard rock name by memorial day 2009 . the park only operated one additional year and never reopened due to poor attendance . 22 hard rock stadium edit in august 2016 it has been reported that the nfl will announce the miami dolphins stadium in miami gardens florida will be renamed hard rock stadium . 23 acquisition by the seminole tribe of florida edit on december 7 2006 rank sold its hard rock business to the seminole tribe of florida for 965 million . included in the deal were 124 hard rock cafes four hard rock hotels two hard rock hotel and casino hotels two hard rock live concert venues and stakes in three unbranded hotels . rank retained the hard rock casino in london and rebranded it the g casino piccadilly . the hard rock hotel and casino in las vegas was also not part of the deal as it was sold by peter morton to morgans hotel group in may 2006 . 24 the final takeover was mired in controversy due to a payment clause in a contract with one casino developer power plant entertainment . power plant and the seminoles announced a settlement