A 73-year-old Florida lawyer is betting he can rescue bankrupt Hooters by rolling back skimpy uniforms and banning “butt cheeks hanging out” — even as job postings still require servers to preserve “glamorous hair styling” and “ability to maintain attractive fit & image.”
Neil Kiefer, who’s been associates with Hooters’ founders since 1992, is preventing in chapter court to take control of 50 shuttered areas and rework them back into what he calls “delightfully tacky” household locations.
“I don’t think you’re going to see a bunch of butt cheeks hanging out,” Kiefer instructed the Wall Street Journal, explaining his plan to ditch the bikini-style bottoms some eating places adopted in favor of conventional orange shorts.
The plan to make Hooters more family-friendly contains doing away with skimpy bottoms worn by the chain restaurant’s servers. The image above exhibits Hooters Girl Ashley Santos at the Fresh Meadows, New York, location. Stephen Yang
Despite efforts to appeal to households, present job postings for “Hooters Girls” explicitly listing bodily look requirements alongside serving duties.
Hooters of America crashed into chapter in March after years of declining gross sales, citing inflation pressures and mounting debt that killed the chain’s $1.2 billion peak from 2009.
Kiefer, who already owns almost two dozen Hooters areas, needs to become chief govt of the management company and “re-Hooterize” the struggling model with $300,000 price of upgrades per restaurant.
His plan to flip the chain around contains having butter sauce slathered on more than 70% of menu objects, which he plans to improve to Grade A butter across all areas.
A 73-year-old Florida lawyer is preventing to take Hooters out of chapter and flip the company around. Hooters server Lana Greenberg is seen at the Fresh Meadows location. Stephen Yang
His strategy of sustaining its provocative identification while attracting households eating lunch alongside males who come to “flirt” with servers contrasts sharply with current adjustments that made uniforms even more revealing. Those tighter, shorter shorts “dragged down the brand’s image,” he instructed the Journal.
While the chain hopes to entice more households into their areas, the waitresses know their look stays a key draw for diners.
“You need to be camera-ready always,” defined server Mikayla Flanagan, 25, who spends hours making ready her hair and make-up before each shift.
While Hooters plans to roll back skimpy uniforms, job postings still require servers to preserve “glamorous hair styling” and “ability to maintain attractive fit & image.” Stephen Yang
“You never know when someone is going to ask for a picture.”
The chain’s cultural relevance has become more and more questionable, as evidenced by a viral Reddit thread titled “Who the F—k Is Keeping Hooters in Business” that generated over 8,000 feedback.
Customer Jeff Oppido, a 42-year-old project supervisor, completely captured the fashionable dilemma.
Despite contemplating Hooters’ costs respectable and beer choice good, he stopped visiting after altering jobs.
“We felt this place was a bit awkward to be in,” Oppido instructed the Journal.
Yet Kiefer claims success with an unlikely demographic. His new location at the Villages senior residing neighborhood in central Florida posted file gross sales, suggesting the model’s appeal transcends age teams.
The chain’s origins as an April Fools’ Day joke by six restaurant novices who wished a place “they couldn’t get kicked out of” has advanced into a legal and cultural minefield.
Neil Kiefer, who is wanting to take control of Hooters, is in search of to rework the restaurant into what he calls a “delightfully tacky” household vacation spot. Dennis A. Clark
Hooters has settled quite a few harassment lawsuits from servers and discrimination instances from male and black workers denied positions, paying fines and agreeing to operational adjustments while sustaining its all-female waitstaff.
Kiefer faces the problem of reviving a model that peaked during an period of totally different social attitudes.
His areas presently show gross sales down 2% in contrast to last yr, though he claims current enhancements.
The chapter court choice in Dallas will decide whether Kiefer’s imaginative and prescient of butter-soaked nostalgia can compete against casual-dining opponents like Chili’s that appeal to budget-conscious shoppers.
“There’s so much more than the little outfits,” Flanagan insisted, embodying the contradiction Kiefer must navigate between intercourse appeal and household eating.