Cleavage laden restaurant chain Hooters is exploring a bold new direction that plunks tiny orange shorts lower on the priority list. It also comes with an equally silly name.
This scaled down version of its restaurant is called Hoots and will open in Cicero, Illinois in February 2017. Hoots will offer a single page menu designed as a fast casual option. Chicken wings will make the leap to the rookie location, but the revealing uniforms won’t be coming with. According to spokesperson Lizz Harmon, the chain’s trademark brand of wardrobe isn’t part of their server set-up at Hoots. Male servers are also welcome in this Midwestern experiment.
Hooters flirting with image rebranding is nothing new. For example, a “family-friendly” shift was discussed in 2013, but it’d be generous to say the company’s been looked at differently since. Leaning hard into the food side of their operation is certainly a daring way for a theme restaurant based on ogling to go.
The success or failure of Hoots in Illinois will be fascinating to analyze. Are customers attracted to Hooters for the wings or the waitresses? We may soon have our answer.