Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London.

[9] Hard Rock Cafe locations in the US vary from smaller, more tourist-driven markets (Biloxi, Pigeon Forge, Key West) to large metropolises (Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C.).

Additional casino hotels franchised from Morgan's were subsequently opened in Sioux City, Iowa and Vancouver, Canada.

In March 2007, the Seminole Tribe of Florida acquired Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc. and other related entities from Rank for US$965 million.

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.

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.

[15] The London Vault remains open and free to visitors, located in the retail Rock Shop of the original cafe.

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.

[22] Today, the Seminole Tribe of Florida owns and operates all units except the Sioux City, Tulsa, Biloxi, and Vancouver properties.

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 Puerto Vallarta,[24] as well as hotel-casinos in Hollywood, Florida; Tampa, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Catoosa, Oklahoma, just northeast of Tulsa.

In 2013, the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park opened as a joint slot machine and track venture near Cleveland, Ohio.

[30][31] Canada had numerous restaurants but many of them closed, notably the one at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto in May 2017, which had been the chain's second location, leaving just two in that country, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and the Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam, B.C.

In July 2019, Hard Rock International announced plans for a casino in Rockford, Illinois, about 75 miles west of Chicago along I-90.

In November 2019, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain opened adjacent to the Toyota Amphitheatre near Wheatland, California.

Also in November, Hard Rock announced a new hotel in São Paulo, Brazil, in the heart of popular Paulista Avenue.

[37] In May 2021, a $300 million Hard Rock Casino location opened in Gary, Indiana about 35 minutes east of Chicago.

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's history.

[46] 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.

[49] The stadium formerly housed Ottawa's first Hard Rock Café when it opened as The Palladium on January 15, 1996, and for many years when it was known as the Corel Centre.

[52] The final takeover was mired in controversy, due to a payment clause in a contract with one casino developer, Power Plant Entertainment.

[54] On June 22, 2008, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood began "Vegas-style" table gambling in addition to the Class II slots already in operation.

On July 3, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the governor's agreement was unconstitutional, but table games continue to operate because the Federal Department of the Interior approved the now-invalid pact with the state.

[56] Relaunching in November 2023 for returning players, the Seminole Tribe of Florida now operates online sports betting too.

In her autobiography A Natural Woman, she reports that she was inspired by a bar in downtown Los Angeles and a small restaurant in Idaho with the same name.