Hooters

Jessica Rodriguez ** Hooters ** ** Hooters History ** The first Hooters restaurant was opened in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida. The restaurant was started by six men: LD Stewart, Gil DiGiannantonio, Billy Ranieri, Ed Droste, Dennis Johnson, and Ken Wimmer. The restaurant has a casual beach theme and the music played is an assortment of oldies from the 50’s and 60’s (Original Hoote rs, 2011). The televisions are constantly showing sport games as Hooters biggest target market consists of males between the ages of 25 and 54. Hooters specializes in chicken wings but the menu also has an array of items such as appetizers, hamburgers and sandwiches, and some seaf ood. They chose the food on the menu to fit their manly personas (Hooters of America, 2008). The Hooters brand name is a clear implication to women’s sexual anatomy. The brand has an owl in their logo to also associate their name to the hooting calls of the animal (Hooters of America 2008). Not long after ’83, the original six sold their rights to the company to Hugh Connerty who wanted to take the company worldwide. Hooters then was under the sole control of Robert H. Brooks for over two decades. Under Brooks, the company went international and grew to 425 restaurants worldwide (Original Hooters, 2011). In 2006 Brooks died and the company was left to his son and daughter. Recently in January of this year 2011, the company was sold to a group of investors led by a Coastal Carolina University alumnus in an effort for a faster settlement of the estate (Spring, 2011). ** Hooters Girl Image ** The first Hooters Girl was named Lynne Austin who was hired by the original six men who started the first restaurant in Clearwater, Florida. It all started with a bet between the men that he could get the girl who wins the Jose Cuervo bikini contest to work at their restaurant. The woman actually refused at first but eventually called the men back weeks later (Original Hooters, 2011). Hooters restaurants thrive on sex appeal. Their female employees, commonly referred to as “Hooters Girls”, are required to wear very revealing clothes. The girl’s uniform consists of a tight white tank top with the brand’s logo across the chest area. The tank top is low cut to emphasize the girl’s breasts. They are also required to wear tight short orange shorts to show off their legs along with tan color pantyhose to make their legs appear flawless. White socks and white gym shoes are also to be worn. The company makes it known that they look for an All-American Cheerleader and Surfer-Girl-Next-Door image when hiring girls to be Hooters Girls (Hooters of America, 2008). Hooters restaurants also make sure that their Hooters Girls are bubbly; full of personality, conversationalists, and so nice that you cannot resist not loving them all (House, 2007). ** Hooters Calendar ** The first Hooters Calendar debuted in 1986 with the first Hooters Girl, Lynne Austin. From Lynne Austin’s exposure in the Hooters Calendar she was discovered by Play Boy magazine and went on to become one of the most popular playmates ever. The popular of Lynne Austin growing immensely, marketing of the Hooters brand and Hooters Girl were able to gain a ton of publicity as they were able to leave the restaurant to tour and promote around the world (Original Hooters, 2008). Not only is the Hooters Calendar filled with pictures of Hooters Girls and jokes, the calendar is unique in many ways. First, every girl that is featured in the Hooters Calendar is a girl that works in one of the Hooters restaurants around the world. Another interesting fact is that the calendar is made out of order. The months in the calendar are out of order so you have to search through it and look at the entire thing to find the correct month. The calendar continues to grow and improve (Hooters Calendar, 2011). ** Hooters and Breast Cancer ** In 2006 the Hooters Company partnered with the V Foundation for Cancer Research brought upon one of the Kelly Jo Dowd diagnosed with breast cancer. Kelly Jo Dowd’s long experience with Hooters started off with being a Hooters Girl. She then got a spot on the Hooters Calendar and centerfold. At the end of her career with Hooters she held a spot as a manager for many years. Kelly Jo Dowd was such a big part of the company that Hooters as a whole company decided to donating money, time, and effort toward eliminating the breast cancer disease (Hooters of America, 2011). Every employee that is now hired at Hooters has to watch a video on breast cancer as part of their training (House, 2007). ** Fun Facts ** ** References **
 * Hooters was incorporated on April’s Fools Day. Doors opened later that year on October 4th.
 * None of the six men who started the first restaurant in Clear Water had any previous restaurant experience before they got together and opened Hooters: a painting contractor, a liquor salesman, a retired service station owner, a real estate executive, a brick mason by trade, and a partner in the painting business (.
 * The entire interior of the restaurant was chosen to be wood- the floors, walls, tables, chairs, and bar and the exterior was chosen to be TI-11 siding simply because it was the cheapest material.
 * All Hooters are decorated inside with Christmas lights. This came to be because the original six men were too lazy to take them down after Christmas (Original Hooters, 2008).
 * Hooters company employs over 25,000 people, over 17,000 are Hooters Girls (Hooters of America, 2011)
 * Hooters added the strawberry smoothie to the menu to appear more friendly towards their female customers (House, 2007).


 * 1) Hooters Calendar. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.hooterscalendar.com/
 * 2) Hooters of America. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.hooters.com/Company.aspx
 * 3) House, J. (2007, September). Hooters of America Inc.: The Power of Branding. //Restaurant Informer//. Retrieved from http://www.restaurantinformer.com/2007/09/hooters-of-america-inc/
 * 4) Original Hooters. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.originalhooters.com/saga/
 * 5) Spring, J. (2011, February 08). Hooters leaves local family. //The Sun News//. Retrieved from http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/02/08/1968567/hooters-leaves-family.html