Earl Enterprises, the owner of restaurant chains such as Buca di Beppo and Planet Hollywood, said on Friday that it found a data security incident at its restaurants that dates back 10 months.
The Orlando, Fla.-based company, which also owns Earl of Sandwich, Chicken Guy, Mixology and Tequila Taqueria, said that payment card information from “a limited number of guests” who dined at the restaurants between May 23, 2018, and March 18 of this year had been compromised.
The company said it has hired a pair of “leading cybersecurity firms” to conduct an investigation into the incident.
The company said that scammers installed malicious software on some point-of-sale systems at “a certain number of Earl Enterprises’ restaurants.” The company has a website with more information on the incident, including a list of locations, which are in 23 states.
Earl Enterprises said the software was designed to capture payment card data, including credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates and, in some cases, cardholder names. The company said in its release that the dates of the breach vary by location.
Online orders paid for online through third-party applications were not affected by the incident, the company said.
The brands combined operate well over 100 locations.
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