Here’s the pitch: If Hooters is less sexy, the chain might get saved from going under. An interesting gambit for a place that popularized the term “breastaurant,” but let’s hear it out. Like many other chain restaurants, Hooters has fallen on hard times and, as of last month, was reportedly planning to file for bankruptcy. But in a new report from Bloomberg, the original Hooters owners proposed a revitalization plan. Apparently, they think the way to save their beloved Hooters is to make it … more family-friendly?
The report details the efforts of the men who started Hooters in Florida in 1983 and are now operating under the name HMC Hospitality Group. They want to regain control of their brand to right the ship. “I’m calling it re-Hooterization,” HMC CEO Neil Kiefer told Bloomberg. In 2021, Hooters of America — the private-equity-owned corporate entity that currently owns the Hooters brand thanks to an early aughts trademark sale — brought in new, skimpier waitress uniforms. Instead of the classic orange shorts, waitresses were asked to wear polyester bottoms that more closely resembled underwear. “You go to some parts of the country and people say, ‘Oh, I could never go to Hooters, my wife would kill me,’” Kiefer said of the new, more risqué look. “That’s depressing to us. We want to change that.”
Should the plan go into effect (they’re apparently working out the details at the moment), the Hooters reins will be returned to the HMC guys, and through a combination of full-coverage uniforms and putting real butter back into the hot sauce, they’ll win back the hearts and minds of America’s wing-loving families. The plan might actually work — these guys still own 22 Hooters locations in Florida and Illinois, where, according to Kiefer, they’ve stuck to the original model and “there’s a noticeable difference. The food’s different, the service is different — I hope to correct it all.”
Good luck, brother! Hopefully by this time next year the hot sauce will be better, the waitresses’ upper thighs will be covered, and we’ll all be clamoring to visit Hooters for Grandma’s birthday.
