Interesting retrospective, thanks for posting it. I have two stories about Hooters. One was during a family outing in the mid-‘90s when my dad decided unilaterally that this was where we’d be...
Interesting retrospective, thanks for posting it.
I have two stories about Hooters. One was during a family outing in the mid-‘90s when my dad decided unilaterally that this was where we’d be having lunch. I was probably about ten and my siblings were younger so I don’t remember much, but my mom was not happy about the choice and spent the meal glowering at him. And I remember our server picking up on that and trying to convince her that Hooters was a “family restaurant.” Dad was in the doghouse for a while after that.
My other story was around 2006 when I had my first corporate office job. It was a small tech company with a largely male workforce. They would infrequently dip out for lunch trips to Hooters. I came along once and felt pretty uncomfortable about it (probably replaying that other memory in my head the whole time). Two women from the office joined us. TBH I was probably projecting my own discomfort onto them but I thought they seemed a bit put off and I caught them side-eyeing the waitstaff a couple times.
Neither story is particularly eventful but those are the only times I’ve set foot in Hooters; both experiences linger in my brain for the way their objectification of women unsettled me. It was in the years after that, that #meToo happened and I got into the feminist discourse, which gave me the vocabulary and context to make better sense of those memories.
AFAIK Hooters used a loophole to wriggle out of gender discrimination laws by hiring the women as “models” instead of “servers.” I believe their job interviews were considered auditions. And (this is blatant, irresponsible speculation) I would not be surprised in the slightest if that process involved a casting couch in at least one of those 400+ locations they had around the world.
Private equity seems to destroy every business it touches, but I’m not shedding any tears for Hooters.
One thing I’m watching with morbid curiosity is the cultural pendulum swinging rightward again in the MAGA (and broader global populist) era. Conservatives backlashed hard against #meToo and anything that smacks of it is now considered woke or censorious. These things trickle into public spaces at different speeds but I do wonder if we’re going to see a resurgence of breastaurants popping up again in the next decade.
At least at Hooters you know what you're getting. I remember back circa 2012 I took a girlfriend to Twin Peaks because we were both big David Lynch fans. It was not what we expected.
At least at Hooters you know what you're getting. I remember back circa 2012 I took a girlfriend to Twin Peaks because we were both big David Lynch fans. It was not what we expected.
On a work trip some coworkers and I went to a Twin Peaks, also uninformed, and we relentlessly mocked the one coworker who suggested it. Next night, we jokingly stated he can't pick where we go...
On a work trip some coworkers and I went to a Twin Peaks, also uninformed, and we relentlessly mocked the one coworker who suggested it.
Next night, we jokingly stated he can't pick where we go anymore and we all agreed on a place called Bombshells. Turns out, same damn thing. Two nights in a row.
I had a similar experience when I went to a Tilted Kilt because my wife wanted shepherd's pie and we just searched for Irish food not knowing what it was. Super uncomfortable experience, and just...
I had a similar experience when I went to a Tilted Kilt because my wife wanted shepherd's pie and we just searched for Irish food not knowing what it was. Super uncomfortable experience, and just checked their site and they also do the "casting" thing.
Funny opposite story - my wife and I were looking for gluten-free restaurants when we were in Vancouver and found a place called The Black Lodge. We laughed at the name, then looked at the menu...
Funny opposite story - my wife and I were looking for gluten-free restaurants when we were in Vancouver and found a place called The Black Lodge. We laughed at the name, then looked at the menu and realized that, yes, it was actually a Twin Peaks-themed restaurant. Unfortunately I think we caught them right before COVID shut them down, and I think the owners at the time bought the place without having watched the show, lol. But they did keep some stuff like a little shrine to Laura Palmer in the corner, and their cherry pie was a miracle.
I had a pretty similar life experience. The first and only time I was in a Hooters, I was maybe 12 or 13, so like 1996ish. I felt super uncomfortable about it and the food was terrible to boot....
I had a pretty similar life experience. The first and only time I was in a Hooters, I was maybe 12 or 13, so like 1996ish. I felt super uncomfortable about it and the food was terrible to boot.
Between both, the food being awful is what I remember the most. I had Chicken Wings and they were just...I dunno, they did not taste good at all. Hooters to me always seemed like low brow crap and I'm a fan of low brow, but it just... It was always a no thanks from me.
The only time I've been to Hooters was senior year of high school with my dad. It was 2005 and it was like a night or two before Prom. My dad wanted to have a man-to-man talk and tell me that if...
The only time I've been to Hooters was senior year of high school with my dad. It was 2005 and it was like a night or two before Prom. My dad wanted to have a man-to-man talk and tell me that if me and my date -- my then GF -- were going to have "some fun" afterwards, to be sure to play it safe. Which we already had been doing. Though tbf, he wouldn't have known that.
Why he chose Hooters to have that conversation, I have no clue. Like why couldn't we have just gone to a normal suburban restaurant like Applebees or Chili's? And yeah the food was pretty mediocre. Avoided Hooters and other restaurants like it since. Because why go to a restaurant if the main appeal isn't the food?
I’ve worked in this industry. I know it pretty well, actually. Interesting to see outside perspectives. ETA: “Casting” is a normal, slightly informal restaurant interview nine times out of ten,...
I’ve worked in this industry. I know it pretty well, actually. Interesting to see outside perspectives.
ETA: “Casting” is a normal, slightly informal restaurant interview nine times out of ten, guys. They are looking for people with decent people skills, the ability to upsell, etc. — very, very regular stuff.
ETA to the ETA: Lord have mercy, lol. Let me explicitly announce — as an actual, real-life former “breasturant” waitstaff member, front of house — that it is a job very similar in all its foibles and glories as basically any other restaurant job.
To be honest, the threshold for sexual harassment was a lot shallower in these establishments than in normal eateries, in my experience. And none of us were being held against our will any more overtly than the average desperate American worker, and we were all in on the joke — because who would take this stuff seriously? It was all meant to be tongue-in-cheek, PG-13 at most, silly, stupid fun. Just kitschy, cosplaying fun.
And, yes, these were family restaurants, but in the same sense as some family-oriented media does not necessarily cater to little children and therefore requires some appropriately exercised discretion.
Also, for the record, I, too, found myself hella confused by a Twin Peaks restaurant when I first encountered one, lol.
(Also, also, the food was insanely good where I worked, as well as at the places where my friends worked. BOH did not come to play; every damned shift was excellence, all credit to them. This is an establishment by establishment sort of thing, though, so it is understandable that quality would be hit or miss.)
Glad to hear from somebody who was in it. I was always suspicious of a place that called itself a family restaurant but focused on boobs to sell itself, but I also heard exactly what you described...
Glad to hear from somebody who was in it. I was always suspicious of a place that called itself a family restaurant but focused on boobs to sell itself, but I also heard exactly what you described -- that it was a running joke.
Is it possible that once again, the same people who brought us explicit lyrics labels on CDs, the ESRB and every other 90s moral majority gatekeeping practice, were taking the Hooters joke too seriously?
I went to a Hooters with my (male, obviously) friends during one of our trips to the US, I was around 20. Somewhere in California I think. Apparently this was before it was sold so it would have...
I went to a Hooters with my (male, obviously) friends during one of our trips to the US, I was around 20. Somewhere in California I think. Apparently this was before it was sold so it would have been during the height of their profitability.
I remember being very uncomfortable during my whole time there (also, the food was not bad? not back then and there at least). But to be honest, what would have made me the most uncomfortable would have been the forced interaction with the wait staff. They picked up that my traveling companions wanted to talk, take pictures, etc. so there was a lot of uncomfortable closeness with strangers.
This correlates with a general discomfort I've had with the attitude of wait staff in multiple US restaurants. Everyone was much more aggressively friendly, cheerful, upbeat than in any portuguese restaurant. That's not to say restaurants in Portugal have bad service - I'd say the service averages to "pretty good" outside fast food - or that we don't have friendly wait staff/owners in some restaurants, but that's up to them. Knowing what I now know about wait staff wages and tipping culture in the US, I wonder if they acted that unnatural because they felt as if they had a gun to the back of their heads. Combine that with the theme of Hooters restaurants and it suddenly feels extra gross. Like, they weren't obliging my companions and getting so close to us out of a proactive desire to do a good job, but out of fear of taking a loss. Yuck.
Remove all that shit from the equation, and I'm honestly not opposed to a themed dining establishment hiring only physically beautiful people - as is common in some cultures around the globe. It would be dishonest of me to deny that I enjoy looking at beauty - beautiful buildings, beautiful scenery, beautiful animals, so why not beautiful people? Pay good wages proportionate to the increased expectations - they are wait staff and models at the same time. Have on-site security. Have everyone keep their distance and keep it strictly professional. I see no reason why they can't hire men. It would get rid of the gender discrimination complaints and broaden the appeal to everyone, giving the restaurant a real shot at being family friendly, as long as the spouses are both on the same page before making the decision to go. There's no reason why attractive wait staff can't be good with children, either.
Kind of, but it's mostly a cultural difference. Even when the customer service worker isn't tipped, they tend to be nicer in America. Despite the stereotypes, Americans are statistically friendly...
Knowing what I now know about wait staff wages and tipping culture in the US, I wonder if they acted that unnatural because they felt as if they had a gun to the back of their heads.
Kind of, but it's mostly a cultural difference. Even when the customer service worker isn't tipped, they tend to be nicer in America. Despite the stereotypes, Americans are statistically friendly and cheery.
Servers are expected to act friendly. It varies by region. The Southern US is famous for southern hospitality, and it's not uncommon to hear pet names like "sugar" or "honey" used by wait staff. The Northeast (NYC) has more curt service, in my experience. The West coast and Midwest are somewhere in-between.
European service can feel stiff or inattentive by comparison.
I only went to Hooters once as a kid. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, my uncle chose it for a extended family dinner. I remember being in awe at how the waitresses were dressed, it wasn't the...
I only went to Hooters once as a kid. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, my uncle chose it for a extended family dinner. I remember being in awe at how the waitresses were dressed, it wasn't the classic white shirt and short it was like a black one piece. It wasn't an awakening for me or anything, but I do recall being like "it feels like I shouldn't be here." I had a similar thought when that same uncle took his children on a vacation in Vegas. It's like, these are places for adults why are you taking kids.
I always thought the food was gross, and I don't really understand the concept of wanting to be turned on as you're eating. But it does occupy a space in my mind as to how the 00s felt like.
Interesting retrospective, thanks for posting it.
I have two stories about Hooters. One was during a family outing in the mid-‘90s when my dad decided unilaterally that this was where we’d be having lunch. I was probably about ten and my siblings were younger so I don’t remember much, but my mom was not happy about the choice and spent the meal glowering at him. And I remember our server picking up on that and trying to convince her that Hooters was a “family restaurant.” Dad was in the doghouse for a while after that.
My other story was around 2006 when I had my first corporate office job. It was a small tech company with a largely male workforce. They would infrequently dip out for lunch trips to Hooters. I came along once and felt pretty uncomfortable about it (probably replaying that other memory in my head the whole time). Two women from the office joined us. TBH I was probably projecting my own discomfort onto them but I thought they seemed a bit put off and I caught them side-eyeing the waitstaff a couple times.
Neither story is particularly eventful but those are the only times I’ve set foot in Hooters; both experiences linger in my brain for the way their objectification of women unsettled me. It was in the years after that, that #meToo happened and I got into the feminist discourse, which gave me the vocabulary and context to make better sense of those memories.
AFAIK Hooters used a loophole to wriggle out of gender discrimination laws by hiring the women as “models” instead of “servers.” I believe their job interviews were considered auditions. And (this is blatant, irresponsible speculation) I would not be surprised in the slightest if that process involved a casting couch in at least one of those 400+ locations they had around the world.
Private equity seems to destroy every business it touches, but I’m not shedding any tears for Hooters.
One thing I’m watching with morbid curiosity is the cultural pendulum swinging rightward again in the MAGA (and broader global populist) era. Conservatives backlashed hard against #meToo and anything that smacks of it is now considered woke or censorious. These things trickle into public spaces at different speeds but I do wonder if we’re going to see a resurgence of breastaurants popping up again in the next decade.
At least at Hooters you know what you're getting. I remember back circa 2012 I took a girlfriend to Twin Peaks because we were both big David Lynch fans. It was not what we expected.
On a work trip some coworkers and I went to a Twin Peaks, also uninformed, and we relentlessly mocked the one coworker who suggested it.
Next night, we jokingly stated he can't pick where we go anymore and we all agreed on a place called Bombshells. Turns out, same damn thing. Two nights in a row.
I mean… that one’s on you guys lol
I had a similar experience when I went to a Tilted Kilt because my wife wanted shepherd's pie and we just searched for Irish food not knowing what it was. Super uncomfortable experience, and just checked their site and they also do the "casting" thing.
Funny opposite story - my wife and I were looking for gluten-free restaurants when we were in Vancouver and found a place called The Black Lodge. We laughed at the name, then looked at the menu and realized that, yes, it was actually a Twin Peaks-themed restaurant. Unfortunately I think we caught them right before COVID shut them down, and I think the owners at the time bought the place without having watched the show, lol. But they did keep some stuff like a little shrine to Laura Palmer in the corner, and their cherry pie was a miracle.
I had a pretty similar life experience. The first and only time I was in a Hooters, I was maybe 12 or 13, so like 1996ish. I felt super uncomfortable about it and the food was terrible to boot.
Between both, the food being awful is what I remember the most. I had Chicken Wings and they were just...I dunno, they did not taste good at all. Hooters to me always seemed like low brow crap and I'm a fan of low brow, but it just... It was always a no thanks from me.
The only time I've been to Hooters was senior year of high school with my dad. It was 2005 and it was like a night or two before Prom. My dad wanted to have a man-to-man talk and tell me that if me and my date -- my then GF -- were going to have "some fun" afterwards, to be sure to play it safe. Which we already had been doing. Though tbf, he wouldn't have known that.
Why he chose Hooters to have that conversation, I have no clue. Like why couldn't we have just gone to a normal suburban restaurant like Applebees or Chili's? And yeah the food was pretty mediocre. Avoided Hooters and other restaurants like it since. Because why go to a restaurant if the main appeal isn't the food?
YVW, glad you enjoyed it.
Yeah, that about sums up my feelings on private equity, and on Hooters going under too. :/
I’ve worked in this industry. I know it pretty well, actually. Interesting to see outside perspectives.
ETA: “Casting” is a normal, slightly informal restaurant interview nine times out of ten, guys. They are looking for people with decent people skills, the ability to upsell, etc. — very, very regular stuff.
ETA to the ETA: Lord have mercy, lol. Let me explicitly announce — as an actual, real-life former “breasturant” waitstaff member, front of house — that it is a job very similar in all its foibles and glories as basically any other restaurant job.
To be honest, the threshold for sexual harassment was a lot shallower in these establishments than in normal eateries, in my experience. And none of us were being held against our will any more overtly than the average desperate American worker, and we were all in on the joke — because who would take this stuff seriously? It was all meant to be tongue-in-cheek, PG-13 at most, silly, stupid fun. Just kitschy, cosplaying fun.
And, yes, these were family restaurants, but in the same sense as some family-oriented media does not necessarily cater to little children and therefore requires some appropriately exercised discretion.
Also, for the record, I, too, found myself hella confused by a Twin Peaks restaurant when I first encountered one, lol.
(Also, also, the food was insanely good where I worked, as well as at the places where my friends worked. BOH did not come to play; every damned shift was excellence, all credit to them. This is an establishment by establishment sort of thing, though, so it is understandable that quality would be hit or miss.)
Glad to hear from somebody who was in it. I was always suspicious of a place that called itself a family restaurant but focused on boobs to sell itself, but I also heard exactly what you described -- that it was a running joke.
Is it possible that once again, the same people who brought us explicit lyrics labels on CDs, the ESRB and every other 90s moral majority gatekeeping practice, were taking the Hooters joke too seriously?
I went to a Hooters with my (male, obviously) friends during one of our trips to the US, I was around 20. Somewhere in California I think. Apparently this was before it was sold so it would have been during the height of their profitability.
I remember being very uncomfortable during my whole time there (also, the food was not bad? not back then and there at least). But to be honest, what would have made me the most uncomfortable would have been the forced interaction with the wait staff. They picked up that my traveling companions wanted to talk, take pictures, etc. so there was a lot of uncomfortable closeness with strangers.
This correlates with a general discomfort I've had with the attitude of wait staff in multiple US restaurants. Everyone was much more aggressively friendly, cheerful, upbeat than in any portuguese restaurant. That's not to say restaurants in Portugal have bad service - I'd say the service averages to "pretty good" outside fast food - or that we don't have friendly wait staff/owners in some restaurants, but that's up to them. Knowing what I now know about wait staff wages and tipping culture in the US, I wonder if they acted that unnatural because they felt as if they had a gun to the back of their heads. Combine that with the theme of Hooters restaurants and it suddenly feels extra gross. Like, they weren't obliging my companions and getting so close to us out of a proactive desire to do a good job, but out of fear of taking a loss. Yuck.
Remove all that shit from the equation, and I'm honestly not opposed to a themed dining establishment hiring only physically beautiful people - as is common in some cultures around the globe. It would be dishonest of me to deny that I enjoy looking at beauty - beautiful buildings, beautiful scenery, beautiful animals, so why not beautiful people? Pay good wages proportionate to the increased expectations - they are wait staff and models at the same time. Have on-site security. Have everyone keep their distance and keep it strictly professional. I see no reason why they can't hire men. It would get rid of the gender discrimination complaints and broaden the appeal to everyone, giving the restaurant a real shot at being family friendly, as long as the spouses are both on the same page before making the decision to go. There's no reason why attractive wait staff can't be good with children, either.
Kind of, but it's mostly a cultural difference. Even when the customer service worker isn't tipped, they tend to be nicer in America. Despite the stereotypes, Americans are statistically friendly and cheery.
Servers are expected to act friendly. It varies by region. The Southern US is famous for southern hospitality, and it's not uncommon to hear pet names like "sugar" or "honey" used by wait staff. The Northeast (NYC) has more curt service, in my experience. The West coast and Midwest are somewhere in-between.
European service can feel stiff or inattentive by comparison.
I only went to Hooters once as a kid. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, my uncle chose it for a extended family dinner. I remember being in awe at how the waitresses were dressed, it wasn't the classic white shirt and short it was like a black one piece. It wasn't an awakening for me or anything, but I do recall being like "it feels like I shouldn't be here." I had a similar thought when that same uncle took his children on a vacation in Vegas. It's like, these are places for adults why are you taking kids.
I always thought the food was gross, and I don't really understand the concept of wanting to be turned on as you're eating. But it does occupy a space in my mind as to how the 00s felt like.
How unfortunate. /s