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. All US cafes are corporate owned and operated, except for cafes in Tampa and Four Winds New Buffalo casino. Hard Rock Cafe typically does not franchise cafe locations in the United States. 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, D.C., etc.).
The chain began to expand worldwide in 1982 with locations in (among others) Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, and Berlin. Hard Rock initially had an eclectic decor, but it later started to display memorabilia. The first Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) opened on Jat Old Park Lane, Mayfair, London, under the ownership of two Americans, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton.
3 Acquisition by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
