It’s the controversial chain known for its ‘three B’s’ – beer, bar food and buxom waitresses.
But after Hooters dramatically closed 40 of its restaurants without warning this week, fears are growing about the future of the American institution.
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Famous for its waitresses, whose revealing uniforms enhance their sex appeal, Hooters has enjoyed impressive success over the past four decades – leading the brand to launch its own airline.
It also holds in-house bikini contests, where winners can win a $30,000 prize, and has produced a calendar series starring 200 employees.
At the height of its powers, Hooters had more than 600 locations worldwide, but now that number has dropped to 293.
Over the weekend, branches in Florida, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia were closed, with the company blaming rising food and rent prices.
However, a spokesperson insisted it remains “highly resilient and relevant”, highlighting a new range of Hooters frozen foods that are being sold in supermarkets across the US.
A spokesperson said Online Mail: “Like many restaurants under pressure from current market conditions, Hooters has made the difficult decision to close a select number of underperforming stores.
‘We look forward to continuing to serve our guests at home, on the go and in our restaurants here in the U.S. and around the world.”
Over the years, Hooters has courted controversy, coming under fire for its “regressive” mission statement while facing lawsuits from members of the public and its own staff.
However, it was also praised by former employees – some of whom are now celebrities and Hollywood stars.
Here, we remember the ups and downs of its 41-year history.
The ‘Six Hooters’
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The chicken chain was founded in 1983 by Gil DiGiannantonio, Edward C. Droste, Billy Ranieri, Ken Wimmer, Lynn D. Stewart and Dennis Johnson.
“We were six clueless idiots who called ourselves the Hooters Six,” Droste told USA Today.
“We wanted to open a beach-themed neighborhood – one that we couldn’t get kicked out of.”
The day they opened their first location in Clearwater, Florida, they had to call a friend for help because they had no idea how to light the fryers.
My daughter might look at me and say, ‘Why work at Hooters, isn’t that very feminist?’
katherine ryan
They also broke the law, with Ed revealing: “I paid two fake cops to arrest one of my partners because we didn’t even have our beer license yet.”
However, the ‘breastaurant’ took off and inspired a number of imitators, including Tilted Kilt in 2002 and Twin Peaks in 2005.
At the height of its fame, in 2003, Hooters even had an airline, but it only took off for three years.
By the time it was canned, it had lost $40 million (£23.65 million).
Uniform reaction
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The original owners created the name Hooters because it is a double entendre—slang for owls and female breasts.
It was decided that, to increase the waitresses’ sex appeal, their uniforms would consist of a tank top and tiny shorts.
Each waitress had to sign and agree to three statements, which included accepting that the chain is based on sex appeal and that they have to entertain customers.
While the uniform has remained largely similar since the first restaurant opened, the chain has been criticized for making the shorts even smaller in 2021.
Employee Handbook
Female employees are required to sign that they “acknowledge and affirm
- My professional duties require me to wear the designated Hooters Girl uniform.
- My professional duties require me to interact with and entertain clients.
- The Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and the work environment is one where jokes and fun conversations are common.
The New York Post Office reported that employees who felt “uncomfortable” in the new tiny shorts were told to turn in their resignation letters in a Hooters directive.
However, many employees still criticized the change because it left almost nothing covered.
Hooters waitress Kristen Songer, 22, said on TikTok: “There is nothing else covered by these shorts.
“This is why all the Hooters girls are upset – because that’s not what I agreed to wear a year ago when I was hired.”
Famous waitresses
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Over the years, several famous women have shared their work experiences online.
Katherine Ryan, 40, credits her time working for Hooters in Ontario, Canada, as the reason she became a comedian.
During her time at the restaurant, she participated in bikini contests – Winning Miss Hooters Toronto – and even visited the Playboy mansion.
The comic told The Watcher: “I wanted to explore that reverence given to delicate, innocent youth.”
While organizing her branch’s bikini competition, she left customers in meltdown with questions like “Where are the trash bags?”
These days, the comedian is well aware that her daughter might wonder why she worked at the network.
She said: “Violet might look at me and say, ‘Why work at Hooters, isn’t that very feminist?’ Well, I was just living in the world I was in and it was different. And we didn’t have smartphones, Violet, and that was still acceptable.
“It’s not like I was behaving badly – that’s what the world was.”
Glee star Naya Rivera also worked at Hooters before finding fame.
“In my 20-year-old brain, I knew it was cute. So I thought ‘Cute + Hooters = better tips,’ Rivera wrote in her autobiography Sorry, Not Sorry.
But it didn’t work out as well as she had hoped.
“It turns out that Hooters may have been a job for fools, but it wasn’t a job for slackers,” she said.
Other famous team members include Amy Adams, Playboy Playmate Chrissy Teigen holly madisonand Anna Burns.
Legal problems
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Hooters’ all-female wait staff has gotten the chain in hot water over the years — in part due to would-be male employees filing lawsuits.
In 1997, three men sued the chain after being denied jobs at a branch in Orland Park, Illinois. They each walked away with $19,100.
Four other men filed a similar lawsuit in Maryland and were awarded $10,350 each.
As a result, the brand decided to make the roles of bartenders and hosts non-gender specific, keeping all waitresses exclusively female.
But the problems didn’t end there, with several of their waitresses taking action against them for more worrying reasons.
In 2000, Hooters paid former waitress Sara Steinhoff $275,000 after a federal grand jury ordered it.
It was to make amends for being the target of unwanted sexual advances, humiliating behavior and recrimination from managers during her time working at the restaurant in the 1990s.
“I just hope this makes a difference,” Sara said after the verdict was announced.
“I’m happy for the women [who] We will no longer be subject to that kind of atmosphere.”
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Despite the controversies, Hooters has been praised by former employees for the benefits it offers longtime employees.
In an interview with Cosmopolitanformer waitress Courtney Dietz, now 30, said: “Hooters helps pay for books and schooling, so it’s really amazing.
“You have to work at it. If you stay there for a year or two, they offer scholarships too. My managers let me do my homework in the office as long as I managed my desks.”
She also stated that she did not have any bad experiences during her four years working at Hooters in the 2010s.
Hooters gave me this self-esteem to own my body and my sexuality
Ashley Yonan, former Hooters girl
Courtney also revealed the clever way the girls turned away customers who didn’t want to take no for an answer.
She told the magazine: “Well, actually a lot of girls buy fake engagement rings. We’ll go to Target or something and buy huge rings and wear them so that if someone scares us enough, we’ll just throw our hands up like, ‘Sorry, I’m taken.’
Former Hooters girl Ashley Yonan, now 33, said skimpy clothes made her feel more confident.
She said: “I looked curvier in uniform, but I felt better because Hooters gave me that self-esteem to own my body and my sexuality.”
Ashley reckoned that, with the exception of a few ingratiating comments, most of the punters who showed up were pretty respectful.
She only saw one incident where something was touched inappropriately, and the man who did it was quickly removed from the restaurant.
She added: “All the girls I worked with, including myself, worked there because it was fun. I never felt degraded; quite the opposite, in fact.
“I was able to take control of my sexuality and my body and use them to be seen as I wanted to be seen.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
