 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food service |
| Founded | October 4, 1983; 41 years ago (1983-10-04) Clearwater, Florida, U.S. |
| Founders | Lynn D. Stewart Gil DiGiannantonio Ed Droste Billy Ranieri Ken Wimmer Dennis Johnson |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
Number of locations | 430+ |
Area served | |
| Products | Burgers, chicken wings, seafood, Tex-Mex, full bar[1] |
| Revenue |  US$605 million (2021[2]) |
| Owner | Nord Bay Capital TriArtisan Capital Advisor |
Number of employees | 15,000 (2021[2]) |
| Website | hooters |
Hooters is the registered trademark[3] used by two American restaurant chains:Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, andHooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital (with TriArtisan Capital Advisor as its advisor).[4] The Hooters name is adouble entendre referring to both a North American slang term for women'sbreasts and the logo (a bird known for its "hooting" calls: theowl).[5]
Thewaiting staff at Hooters restaurants are primarily young women, usually referred to simply as "Hooters Girls", whose revealing outfits andsex appeal are played up and are a primary component of the company's image. The company employs men and women as cooks, hosts (at some franchises),busboys, and managers.[6] The menu includeshamburgers and othersandwiches, steaks, seafood entrees, appetizers, and the restaurant's specialty,chicken wings. Almost all Hooters restaurants hold alcoholic beverage licenses to sell beer and wine, and where local permits allow, a full liquor bar. Hooters T-shirts, sweatshirts, and various souvenirs and curios are also sold.
As of 2016[update], there were more than 430 Hooters locations and franchises around the world and Hooters of America LLC. owns 160 units. In 2012, there were Hooters locations in 44 US states, theUnited States Virgin Islands,Guam, and 28 other countries.[7] Hooters also had anairline,Hooters Air, with a normal flight crew and flight attendants and scantily clad "Hooters Girls" on every flight.[8]
Hooters, Inc., was incorporated inClearwater, Florida, on April 1, 1983, by six Clearwater businessmen:Lynn D. Stewart, Gil DiGiannantonio,Ed Droste, Billy Ranieri, Ken Wimmer and Dennis Johnson.The date was an April Fools' Day joke because the original six owners believed that their prospect was going to fail. Their first Hooters restaurant was built on the site of a former rundown nightclub that had been purchased at a low price. So many businesses had folded in that particular location that the Hooters founders built a small "graveyard" at the front door for each that had come and gone before them. The first restaurant opened its doors on October 4, 1983, in Clearwater.[9] This original location was decorated with memorabilia fromWaverly, Iowa, hometown to some of the original Hooters 6.
In December 1984, Hugh Connerty bought the rights to Hooters from the Original Hooters 6.Robert H. Brooks and a group ofAtlanta investors (operators of Hooters of America, Inc.) bought out Hugh Connerty. In 2002, Brooks bought majority control and became chairman.[10] The Clearwater-based company retained control over restaurants in theTampa Bay Area,Chicago metropolitan area, and one inManhattan,[11] 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.[12] Under Brooks's leadership, the collective Hooters brand expanded to more than 425 stores worldwide. Brooks died on July 15, 2006, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, of aheart attack.[13] Brooks'swill gave most of Hooters of America Inc. to his sonCoby Brooks and daughter Boni Belle Brooks.[14]
The Hooters Casino Hotel was opened February 2, 2006, off theLas Vegas Strip inParadise, Nevada, adjacent to theTropicana, across the street from theMGM Grand Las Vegas. It became theOyo Hotel & Casino in 2019, though the Hooters restaurant on the property remains open.
As part of their 25th anniversary,Hooters Magazine released its list of top Hooters Girls of all time. Among the best-known wereLynne Austin (the original Hooters Girl), the late Kelly Jo Dowd (the mother of the golferDakoda Dowd),Bonnie-Jill Laflin,Leeann Tweeden, andHolly Madison.[15][16]
After Brooks' death in 2006, 240 buyers showed interest in Hooters of America Inc., and 17 submitted bids, with that number being reduced to eight, and then three, before the selection of Wellspring Capital Management.[14] Chanticleer Holdings LLC ofCharlotte, North Carolina, which had the right to block the sale after a $5 million loan made in 2006, did so in a December 1, 2010, letter to the court. As a result, Chanticleer and other investors bought the company from the Brooks family.[17][18]
In January 2011, Chanticleer and others completed the purchase of Hooters of America Inc. from the Brooks family.[17]
As of July 2013[update], Hooters of America owned 160 restaurants and operates or franchises over 430.[19]
On July 1, 2019, Hooters was sold to Nord Bay Capital and TriArtisan Capital Advisors.[20][21]
In June 2024, Hooters abruptly closed approximately 40 locations that were deemed underperforming, blaming rising costs and a decline in sales as part of the decision.[22] On February 21, 2025, it was reported that Hooters was preparing to file forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection within the coming months after prior closures in 2024 and revenue losses at its locations.[23]
In response to declining sales, in 2017 the company launched afast casual spinoff of its format called "Hoots". Hoots is distinguished from its original concept primarily by a reduction in menu items and employment of both male and female servers who are modestly dressed in t-shirts and khakis.[24][25]
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The appearance of the waitresses is a main selling feature of the restaurant. AHooters Girl is a waitress employed by the Hooters restaurant chain, and they are recognizable by their uniform of a whitetank top with the "Hootie the Owl" logo and the location name on the front paired with short nylon orangeDolphin shorts. The remainder of the Hooters Girls uniform consists of the restaurant's brown ticket pouch (or a black one with the black uniform), tanpantyhose,[27] whiteloose 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.[28]
An older version of the Hooters Employee Handbook (prior to October 2006), published inThe Smoking Gun reads:[28]
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:
Hooters has actively supported charities through itsHooters Community Endowment Fund, also known asHOO.C.E.F., a play onUNICEF. It has provided money and/or volunteers to charities such asHabitat for Humanity, The V Foundation for Cancer Research, Operation Homefront,Make-A-Wish Foundation,Special Olympics,Muscular Dystrophy Association andStop Hunger Now.[29][30] In addition, after the 2007 death of Kelly Jo Dowd, a former Hooters Girl, Hooters calendar cover girl and later restaurant general manager, Hooters began a campaign in support ofbreast cancer research, with awareness of the issue being spread through the Kelly Jo Dowd Fund. By 2010 the chain raised over $2 million for the cause.[31]
In 2009, Hooters partnered with Operation Homefront to establish The Valentine Fund in honor of fallen soldierSOCS Thomas J. Valentine. The fund supports the families ofUS Special Forces service members and other military families. Thomas J. Valentine, aNavy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer, was killed during a training exercise February 13, 2008. He left behind his wife, Christina, and two young children. Hooters established a fund in Valentine's name through Operation Homefront.[32][33]
Hooters is involved in the sports world. Previous sponsorships include theMiami Hooters, a now defunctArena Football League team. Hooters formerly sponsored theUSAR Hooters Pro Cup, an automobile racing series, and theNGA Pro Golf Tour, a minor league golf tour.
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In 1992, Hooters sponsoredNASCAR driverAlan Kulwicki as he won theWinston Cup Championship, beatingBill Elliott by ten points, the closest margin in NASCAR prior toThe Chase era. On April 1, 1993, Kulwicki, along with several others including Hooters Chairman Bob Brooks' son Mark, were killed in aplane crash nearBristol, Tennessee. They were flying back to thetrack for Sunday's race after making a sponsor appearance at a Hooters inKnoxville, Tennessee. Hooters remained in the sport, sponsoring drivers likeLoy Allen Jr.,Rick Mast andBrett Bodine before ending their involvement in 2003. The restaurant returned to NASCAR in 2007 to sponsor aCraftsman Truck Series team led byJason White,Derrike Cope andBrad Keselowski. Six years later, Hooters sponsoredNationwide Series driverNelson Piquet Jr.'s car.[34] For the2016 Bojangles' Southern 500 atDarlington Raceway, Hooters made a comeback in the Cup Series with a one-off paint scheme forGreg Biffle.[35] Hooters most recently sponsored the No. 9 ofChase Elliott from 2017 to 2024.[36][37]
Hooters has sponsored theMajor League Eating-sanctioned "Hooters Worldwide Wing Eating Championship" since 2012.[38] Hooters has also licensed its name for theHooters Road TripPlayStation racing game. Furthermore, Hooters licensed the Hooters Calendar forHooters Calendar Girl, a mobile wallpaper application, andHooters Calendar Girl Tubin', amobile game, both byOasys Mobile.[39][40] It was also one of several real world brands that appeared in the 2011 video gameHomefront.
Since 1986, the restaurant has issued a calendar featuring Hooters Girls, with signings taking place in some of their restaurants. Since 1996, Hooters has held Miss Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant, a competition of Hooters Girls from around the world; in 2010, this event took place inHollywood, Florida. An African-American woman won the Miss Hooters pageant for the first time in 2010: LeAngela Davis ofColumbus, Ohio.[41]
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Hooters has been criticized forobjectifying women.[42]
The Orange County National Organization for Women (NOW), as well as three other California chapters, filed a complaint against Hooters with several district attorneys in 2010. They criticized Hooters for “having it both ways” and operating as a “legal bait and switch” by simultaneously advertising itself as a “family restaurant” and allowing minors, while defending itself against charges of sex discrimination by claiming that the restaurant is based on female sex appeal. The complaint called on authorities to either force Hooters to stop admitting children onto the premises or stop sex discrimination in its hiring practices.[43]
Several studies suggest that working at Hooters and other “breastaurants” takes a psychological toll on its employees, with higher levels of objectification being associated with lower job satisfaction,[44] and higher levels of anxiety and eating disorders.[45]
However, others have argued thatfeminism is about having a choice and that being able to work as a woman in whichever industry the individual woman in question chooses along with the ability for women to make their own money is empowering.[46] Hooters in response to such criticism have said the company regularly donates to charities that help promote women's entrepreneurship and often promote Hooters Girls to management positions.[47][48][49] 40% of Hooters restaurants managers are reportedly female.[49]
In 1997, three men from the Chicago area sued Hooters after being denied employment at anOrland Park, Illinois, restaurant. Each of them was awarded $19,100. Four men who filed a similar lawsuit inMaryland received $10,350 each. The settlement allows Hooters to continue gender-restricted hiring in its wait staff; the chain agreed to create other support jobs, like bartenders and hosts, that must be filled without regard to gender.[50]
In 2000, a federal jury ordered Hooters to pay $275,000 to former waitress Sara Steinhoff, who claimed in her lawsuit that she was the target of unwanted sexual advances, demeaning behavior and recrimination from managers while she worked at the Hooters inNewport, Kentucky, between October 1996 and October 1997.[51]
In 2001, a jury determined Hooters of Augusta Inc. willfully violated theTelephone Consumer Protection Act by sendingunsolicited advertising faxes. The class-action lawsuit, brought in June 1995 by Sam Nicholson, included 1,320 others who said they received the advertising faxes from Hooters. Atlanta-based Hooters of America Inc., the local restaurant's parent company, paid out $11 million.[52] The jury determined that six faxes were sent to each plaintiff. With a $500 fine for each, that amounts to a $3,000 award per plaintiff.[53]
Also in 2001, Jodee Berry, a waitress at a Hooters inPanama City Beach, Florida, won a beer sales contest, for which the promised prize was a newToyota automobile. However, the manager awarded her a "toyYoda" instead, claiming the contest was an April Fool's Day joke. Berry filed a lawsuit against Gulf Coast Wings, the local franchisee, and later reached a settlement.[54]
In 2004, it was found that job applicants to a Hooters inWest Covina, California, were secretly filmed while undressing, prompting a civil suit filed against the national restaurant chain in Los Angeles Superior Court.[55] The company responded to the incident with additional employee training.
In 2009, Nikolai Grushevski, a man fromCorpus Christi, Texas, filed a lawsuit because Hooters would not hire him as a waiter. Grushevski and Hooters reached a confidential settlement on April 13.[56] In September 2009, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against aNorth Carolina charter airline (formerly Hooters Air, owned by Hooters of America) on behalf of Chau Nguyen, an Asian flight attendant fired three years prior after complaining only white workers were being promoted.[57]
In May 2010, a lawsuit was filed against Hooters inMichigan after an employee was given a job performance review and was told that her shirt and short size could use some improvement by two women who held positions at the headquarters in Atlanta. Michigan is the only state that includes height and weight as bounds for non-discrimination in hiring. The plaintiff alleges that she was made the offer of a free gym membership and told that if she did not improve in 30 days, her employment would be terminated.[58] The company denied that they threatened to fire the plaintiffs, and the suit was settled out of court.[59]
In 2011, a number of former Hooters executives left to start theTwin Peaks franchise group. Hooters filed suit and alleged that former Hooters executives stole trade secrets and management documents as part as their move to the new restaurant chain.[60]
In 2012, former employee Jheri Stratton filed suit after catchingtuberculosis from one of her managers.[61][62]
Also in 2012, Kisuk Cha, a Korean American immigrant who placed a takeout order at a Hooters in Queens, New York, sued the restaurant chain for racial discrimination after noticing a racial slur printed on a cash register receipt by a hostess who later confessed and subsequently resigned. The case was dismissed in 2013.[63]
On April 2, 2015, former employee Farryn Johnson was awarded $250,000 after an arbitrator found that racial discrimination contributed to her termination. Johnson was terminated in August 2013 after her store manager (from the Hooters in Baltimore, Maryland) told her that she could not have blonde highlights in her hair. Johnson filed a civil rights complaint with the State of Maryland Civil Rights Division where her attorneys stated the applicability of the dress code for Black Americans and everyone else (e.g. non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander American) where one set of policies pertains to a certain group of people was considered as racial discrimination. A statement from Hooters of America by Ericka Whitaker (Hooters of America senior brand manager) stated that she had no issue of having blonde highlights as a Hooters Girl prior to becoming a brand manager and the company will continue to diversify its employees, from the restaurant to the annual Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant.[64][65][66]
On September 11, 2017,[67] formerPhiladelphia-area Hooters waitress Jade Velez filed a lawsuit against Hooters alleging she was a victim of workplace sexual assault by a former kitchen employee.[68] The lawsuit named the employee, three former managers at the Northeast Philadelphia Hooters restaurant where she worked, andHooters of America, LLC et al as defendants.[68][67] As of July 2020, the outcome of the case was still pending.[67]
On July 16, 2019, Scott Peterson, who was one of two men who alleged they were sexually harassed by a male boss while working for Hooters in the Los Angeles area, reached a settlement with the restaurant chain in theLos Angeles Superior Court, though terms of the settlement were not publicly revealed.[69] The other plaintiff, Paul "PJ" Cagnina, obtained a settlement in May 2017.[70]
On August 22, 2024,Hendrick Motorsports ofNASCAR announced that they would sue Hooters for $1.705 million plus unpaid sponsorship fees.[71] On March 21, 2025, it was reported that Hooters agreed to pay $900K to Hendrick Motorsports.[71]
Inemployment discrimination law in the United States, employers are generally allowed to consider characteristics that would otherwise be discriminatory if they arebona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQ). For example, a manufacturer of men's clothing may lawfully advertise exclusively for male models. Hooters has argued a BFOQ defense, which applies when the "essence of the business operation would be undermined if the business eliminated its discriminatory policy".[56]
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