Hooters

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This article is about the two restaurant chains collectively using the shared Hooters brand. For other uses, see Hooters (disambiguation).
 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2008)
Hooters
Type Private
Founded 1983 in Clearwater, Florida
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia; Clearwater, Florida
Number of locations 435
Industry Food Service
Products Burgers, Chicken Wings, Seafood, Alcohol
Parent Hooters of America, Inc.
Hooters, Incorporated
Website http://www.hooters.com/
Hooters in Morrisville, North Carolina.

Hooters is the trade name of two privately held American restaurant chains: Hooters of America, Incorporated, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hooters, Incorporated, based in Clearwater, Florida.

Hooters targets male customers with a waitstaff of scantily-clad waitresses, while employing males as cooks, hosts (at some franchises), busboys, and managers. The menu includes hamburgers and other sandwiches, steaks, seafood entrees, appetizers, and the restaurant's specialty, chicken wings. Almost all Hooters hold alcoholic beverage licenses to sell beer and wine, and, where local permits allow, a full liquor bar. Other offerings for sale include Hooter's T-shirts, sweatshirts, and various souvenirs and curios.

Between company owned locations and franchises, there are now more than 435 Hooters throughout the United States. The company has restaurants in 46 U.S. states, the US Virgin Islands, and Guam. In addition, Hooters operates restaurants in 24 other countries,[1] The company's first overseas location was in Singapore, and other Hooter's restaurants are now located in Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom (only in Nottingham), and in Venezuela. An additional American Hooters was opened in St. Thomas, the US Virgin Islands in December 2007.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Hooters, Inc. began operations on October 4, 1983, with a restaurant in Clearwater, Florida, founded by Alisa Ianelli and built on the site of a former dumpster washing facility that had been purchased at a cheap price. The store actually opened on April 1, 1983, as an "April Fools Day" joke, because the original six owners believed that their prospect was going to fail. Indeed, so many businesses had folded in that particular location that the Hooter's founders built a small "graveyard" at the front door for each that had come and gone before them.[3]

In 1984, Robert H. Brooks and a group of Atlanta investors (operators of Hooters of America, Inc.) bought expansion and franchise rights for the Hooters chain. In 2002, Brooks bought majority control and became chairman.[4] The Clearwater-based company retained control over restaurants in the Tampa Bay Area, Chicagoland, and one in Manhattan, New York,[5] while all other locations were under the aegis of Hooters of America, which sold franchising rights to the rest of the United States and international locations.[6] Under Brooks's leadership, the collective Hooters brand expanded from one restaurant to more than 425 stores worldwide. Brooks died in July 2006 of a heart attack.[7]

The Hooters Casino Hotel was opened February 2, 2006, off the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. This hotel has 696 rooms with a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) casino. The hotel is owned and operated by 155 East Tropicana, LLC (Florida Hooters, LLC 66.67% & EW Common, LLC 33.33%). It is located off of the Las Vegas Strip next to the Tropicana and across the street from the MGM Grand Las Vegas. It is the only "Hooters"-branded operation that is not operated by Hooters of America.[citation needed] At this time it is the only Hooters facility offering overnight accommodations since a Hooters Inn motel located along Interstate 4 in Lakeland, Florida was demolished in 2007.

As part of their 25th anniversary, HOOTERS Magazine released its list of top HOOTERS girls of all time. Among the best-known were Lynne Austin (the original Hooters girl), the late Kelly Jo Dowd (the mother of the golfer Dakoda Dowd), Bonnie-Jill Laflin, Beverly Mullins (now known as Wesley Holliday), Leeann Tweeden, and Holly Madison.[8][9]

There is a fake Hooters in Driffield, East Yorkshire, England, which is actually a night club; they even use the official Hooters logo on occasion.

[edit] Hooters Girls

Hooters Calendar Girl Melissa Poe
A Hooters Girl at their Singapore restaurant.

A Hooters Girl (informally, "Hooter Girl" is commonly used) is a waitress employed by the Hooters restaurant chain. The girls are recognizable by their uniform of a white tank top with the "Hootie the Owl" logo and the location name on the front paired with the famously short orange runner's shorts. The idea of the uniform came from one of the original owners who had a crush on one of his co-workers, who would go running at lunchtime in a white tank top and orange shorts. Originally, the shirts were white cotton, pulled tight and knotted in the back to emphasize the breasts. The pulchritude of the waitresses is a main selling feature of the restaurant. Later, Hooters changed to a tight white spandex shirt that eliminated the knot-tying. The company also began using other colors and designs for their tops such as a camouflage theme on Monday ("Military Mondays"), black on Friday ("Formal Fridays"), some Sundays, for special occasions, and for important local football and basketball games, and the football uniforms of local National Football League teams during the NFL season, although this varies from state to state and by location. The remainder of the Hooters Girls' uniform consists of the restaurant's brown ticket pouch (or a black one with the black uniform), pantyhose, white loose socks, and clean white shoes. Men who work at Hooters wear Hooters hats, t-shirts with long pants, Bermuda shorts, or attire more suitable for kitchen use.

[edit] Employee handbook requirements

The interior of a Hooters Restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Smoking Gun website obtained a copy of the Hooters Employee Handbook[10] which notes that:

Customers can go to many places for wings and beer, but it is our Hooters Girls who make our concept unique. Hooters offers its customers the look of the "All American Cheerleader, Surfer, Girl Next Door."

Female employees are required to sign that they "acknowledge and affirm" the following:

  1. My job duties require I wear the designated Hooters Girl uniform.
  2. My job duties require that I interact with and entertain the customers.
  3. The Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and the work environment is one in which joking and sexual innuendo based on female sex appeal is commonplace.
  4. I do not find my job duties, uniform requirements, or work environment to be offensive, intimidating, hostile, or unwelcome.

[edit] Public perception

[edit] Public relations

Kara of the Hooters in Marietta, Georgia signing her January 2009 calendar picture at the Hooters in Lawrenceville, Georgia on November 1, 2008.

Hooters has an extensive public relations campaign and has actively supported charities through its Hooters Community Endowment Fund, also known as HOO.C.E.F., a play on UNICEF. It has provided money and/or volunteers to charities such as Habitat for Humanity, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Special Olympics, and Muscular Dystrophy Association.[11] In addition, after the death of Kelly Jo Dowd, a former Hooters Girl on the cover of the Hooters calendar in 1995, and later a restaurant general manager, Hooters began a campaign against breast cancer, with awareness of the issue being spread through the Kelly Joe Dowd Fund. Local restaurants will often select their own local charities.

Hooters also launched what it calls "Operation Let Freedom Wing," which involves sending its celebrities, such as Hooters Calendar Girls, UC3 and singer Angela Lanza, to visit U.S. troops overseas, including to Afghanistan.

[edit] Athletics & promotions

Keisy of the Hooters in Canton, Georgia signing her March 2009 calendar picture at the Hooters in Lawrenceville, Georgia on November 1, 2008.

Hooters is involved in the sports world. Previous sponsorships include the Miami Hooters, a now defunct Arena Football League team. Hooters currently sponsors the USAR Hooters Pro Cup, an automobile racing series, and the NGA Hooters Tour, a minor league golf tour. In 1992 Hooters sponsored NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki as he won the Winston Cup Championship, beating Bill Elliott by ten points, the closest margin in NASCAR prior to The Chase era. On April 1, 1993 Kulwicki, along with several others including Hooters Chairman Bob Brooks' son Mark were killed in a plane crash near Bristol, Tennessee. They were flying back to the track for Sunday's race after making a sponsor appearance at a Hooters in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Hooters has also licensed its name for the Hooters Road Trip PlayStation racing game as well as a Hooters Calendar mobile wallpaper application. Oasys Mobile will also be putting out several other games for mobile consumption based on the Hooters Calendar license in 2008.[12]

Professional golfer John Daly is sponsored by Hooters on the PGA Tour, a deal potentially in jeopardy given his recent issues with alcohol. He also serves as a corporate spokesman. Dick Vitale, a college basketball analyst, is also a sponsor of Hooters.

Since 1986, the restaurant has issued a calendar of their girls, with signings taking place in some of their restaurants. Since 1996, Hooters has held Miss Hooters International, a pageant of Hooters girls from around the world; in 2009, this event is scheduled to take place in Hollywood, Florida.

[edit] Closures

The Hooters concept has not been successful in all markets. Eight Hooters locations in the northeastern United States were closed in 2007 after a Hooters franchise owner was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[13] A Hooters in Ohio closed in 2006 due to lack of business,[14] followed by another in 2007.[15] Also in 2007, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported a plan to sell and re-brand the Las Vegas Hooters Casino/Hotel, and the television station KPTV reported the 2008 closures of two Hooters locations in Oregon.

Further closings happened in Canada in Gatineau, Quebec, and at three locations in Ottawa, Ontario. A Hooters store opened briefly in Sydney, Australia, with some controversy, and closed after a short period. However, Hooter's remains open in the Gold Coast, Queensland, and several other places in Australia. Apparently, all of the Hooter's restaurants formerly located in New Zealand, which existed before the ones in Australia, have closed

[edit] Cultural references

A parody of Hooters was done in the South Park episode "Raisins".

The 2009 movie Still Waiting... depicts a restaurant called Ta-Tas as a parody of Hooters.

In "The Secret", an episode of The Office, Michael Scott and Jim Halpert went to Hooters.

John Smith's stag night takes place in a Hooters restaurant in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

The 1999 film Big Daddy features scenes set at Hooter, and characters who work there.

[edit] See also

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hooters

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Hooters Opens Tuesday at Buccaneer Mall St. Thomas Source
  3. ^ The Original Hooters - Hooters Saga
  4. ^ "The Original Hooters-Hooters Saga". Hooter's Inc.. http://www.originalhooters.com/saga.cfm?pg=2002. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 
  5. ^ "The Original Hooters-Hooter's Locations". Hooters, Inc.. http://www.originalhooters.com/locations.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 
  6. ^ "About Hooters". http://www.hooters.com/company/about_hooters/. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 
  7. ^ "Hooters History-2007". Hooter's Inc.. http://www.originalhooters.com/saga.cfm?pg=2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 
  8. ^ "The Top HOOTERS Girls of all time". HOOTERS Magazine. July/August 2008. pp. 100-113.
  9. ^ HOOTERS Hall of Fame. - accessed 17 June 2009.
  10. ^ "So You Wanna Be A "Hooters" Girl?". The Smoking Gun. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0915051hooters1.html. 
  11. ^ Hooters.com (August 25, 2005). Hooters Girls Working with Habitat for Humanity. Press release. http://www.hooters.com/news_and_events/news/2005/2005-08-25_Habitat.asp. 
  12. ^ Oasys Mobile | A premier publisher and developer of mobile entertainment
  13. ^ Smith, Ashley, Doors shut at Hooters across state, Nashua Telegraph, June 26, 2007
  14. ^ Baker, Brandon C. Mentor, Ohio, Hooters closes because of lack of business, News-Herald, September 27, 2006
  15. ^ Teems, Yvonne, Hooters closes area restaurant, Dayton Business Journal, July 31, 2007

[edit] External links

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