Surveying the mess that has come of the restaurant chain he co-founded in 1984 and left five years later, Phil Hickey Jr. makes no attempt to hide his emotions.
"It really kills me to see what's happened to Cooker," says Mr. Hickey, who as chief executive of Rare Hospitality International Inc. (RARE) in Atlanta now oversees 117 LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants. "But even with all its problems, I still believe in the Cooker concept and its people."
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