Inside the rise and fall of Hooters: How the sports bar with scantily-clad servers became a surprise success before being engulfed in scandal and closing 40 failing restaurants

From humble beginnings in Florida, Hooters is a now household name synonymous with hot wings, beer and, of course, the scantily-clad servers.

The sports-style bar, which was founded in Clearwater in 1983, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023 – but the eatery – dubbed ‘breastauraunt’ in the ’90s – was initially dreamed up as a joke.

While it hit a peak in the aughts, the chain restaurant has taken a downward turn in the last few years – recently announcing the closure of 40 ‘underperforming’ locations around the US in the last month.

Conceived by the now-famous ‘Hooters Six,’ who had no restaurant experience between them and were even arrested for impersonating restaurateurs, Hooters has seen significant changes and achieved magnificent success.

The founders included L.D. Stewart, a painting contractor; Gil DiGiannantonio, a liquor salesman; Ranieri, known as Uncle Billy, a retired service station owner; Ed Droste, a real estate executive; Dennis Johnson, a brick mason by trade; and Ken Wimmer, a partner in the painting business with L.D. Strange group.

And, although excited about their venture, the six didn’t expect the eatery to last.

When Hooters exploded in popularity, it spawned an entire entity – putting its name to calendars, casinos, airlines, NASCAR races and even products in grocery stores.

But the chain’s success hasn’t been without controversies, including gender discrimination in the 1990s, studies into the mental health of servers and complaints about skimpy uniforms.

Here, FEMAIL looks back at the history of Hooters, its famous waitresses and which rival restaurants have edged the iconic eatery out of the zeitgeist. 

History of Hooters: How six friends masterminded the restaurant – despite being convinced it would fail

The inspiration for Hooters came from the Midwest, where most of the Hooters Six were from. 

After saying they missed the neighborhood bars they were used to at home, the friends decided to recreate a place where people could ‘gather and quench their thirst for the finer things in life,’ as per the Hooters website.

They were inspired by the name Hooters following Steve Martin’s 1980 monologue on Saturday Night Live.

‘I believe it’s derogatory to refer to a woman’s breasts as “boobs,” “jugs,” “winnebagos,” or “golden bozos” and that you should only refer to them as “hooters,”‘ Martin said in the monologue.

The Hooters Six found the joke hilarious and so opted to use it as the company name.

Despite their enthusiasm, the six men were convinced they were going to fail – particularly after deciding to open in a building that had seen several business fail before them.

‘We took a picket fence out in front and put out tombstones with the names of all the other businesses that failed,’ Droste told the Tampa Bay Times of their opening location.

‘And then when an imitator opened up [nearby] we put their name out front, too.’

And, sure enough, the business initially struggled – resulting in waitresses walking out and Droste desperately trying to attract customers in whatever way he could, including dressing up in a chicken costume.

But the restaurant was saved by the 1984 Super Bowl at Tampa Stadium.

The match between the Los Angeles Raiders and the Washington Redskins drew quite the crowd, with the Raiders taking the win.

It ended up also being a win for the Hooters Six with John Riggins, Washington’s star fullback, stopping by for a bite post match. 

After returning with his teammates. it attracted mass attention and wait times skyrocketed to as high as three hours. 

Droste was later inspired with the idea that changed the business and put the restaurant on the map: Hooters Girls. 

The Hooters Six sold the rights to Hugh Connerty by the end of 1984. 

Connerty then expanded the idea under the name Neighborhood Restaurants, which later became Hooters of America.

Hooters girls: Chrissy Teigen and Naya Rivera are among the famous faces to have worn the uniform

The waitresses at the establishment originally wore brown booty shorts with a Hooters tee, later swapping them out for the bright orange shorts they wear today.

Hooters Girls themselves became a large part of the appeal of visiting the establishment.

The original Hooters Girl – Lynne Austin – was hired shortly after the chain opened after co-founder Ed Droste spotted her competing in a bikini contest in Florida and decided that she was the perfect embodiment of what they wanted their servers to look like. 

The then 22-year-old agreed to feature on the first billboard and featured in Hooters debut calendar in 1985.

She soon became a poster girl for the eatery and helped to immortalize the image of the Hooters Girl as a slim, busty, all-American beauty.

‘[Droste] convinced me that [Hooters] was going to be world famous,’ Austin told the Tampa Bay Times.

‘You know, I was going to be world famous. We were going to make a lot of money.’

Austin’s star rose as Hooters got more popular – and, having started off her career on the Hooters calendar, eventually featured in Playboy magazine.

Following the original Hooters Girl came a long list of now-famous celebrities.

Among them was Academy Award nominee Amy Adams who worked there in 1993.

‘I was a hostess at first, and then I waited tables for a while, and it was great. It was a great way for me to earn money for college,’ the actress, 49, told Entertainment Tonight’s Nancy O’Dell during an interview on the 2015 Golden Globes red carpet.

Via Ranker, Adams was still 17 when she was hired and was allowed to wear a tennis outfit before being promoted to a waitress on her 18th birthday. 

Model Chrissy Teigen was also employed at Hooters for a stint, working in Newport Beach California, and she relished her time there. 

‘I never made it up to being a server, but I would run food. But I will say it was one of the most wonderful times,’ she told the hosts of the True Crime Obsessive podcast.

The late Glee actress Naya Rivera also worked at the busty establishment, but admitted she had ‘nightmares’ about her time as an employee.

‘When I was working there, I was really skinny – a lot skinnier than I am now,’ she told Allure in 2013.

‘But I was always self-conscious. It’s so funny now to feel completely different.’

Holly Madison, the former girlfriend of Playboy creator Hugh Hefner from 2001 to 2008, also had her origins at Hooters – working at the Santa Monica, California, chain before moving into the Playboy Mansion.

Controversy of Hooters: The brand has battled various discrimination claims and sparked backlash with some of its choices

Hooters may have relished in their popularity boom, but it has not all been smooth sailing for the brand, having endured its fair share of controversy. 

With its identity centered largely around the women who work there – who were usually thin and pretty – the company was often engaged in sexual harassment claims.

In 1997, a group of men sued Hooters for only hiring female servers.

In response, the restaurant asserted that being female was a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ), which is an exception to Title VII that allows for sex discrimination based on business necessity.

They argued that the waitresses were entertainers and so needed to be a certain gender.

The restaurant eventually settled for $3.75 million and agreed to create more roles for men.

Over the years, Hooters has also been the subject of other discrimination cases.

In 2010, an employee sued a Detroit Hooters in 2010 for weight discrimination under Michigan law which was resolved through an arbitrator.

In 2015, Hooters settled for $250,000 after a waitress was prohibited from wearing blonde highlights, with her manager claiming the hair style would not look ‘natural’ on her as a Black woman.

In 2023, post pandemic, many of the employees of color at a North Carolina Hooters claimed they were not hired back after pandemic layoffs, with allegations also made that there were racist comments made about Black workers.

Hooters of America denied the accusation and argued that skin tone is subjective, according to reports.

The company defended its hiring practices and argued that employment decisions ‘are justified by legitimate, non-discriminatory, non-retaliatory, and non-pretextual business reasons.’

A Hooters in Louisiana also settled a similar racial discrimination suit for $650,000 in 2023.

Elsewhere, the brand also took a hit in 2017 after a study by the University of Tennessee found that working at ‘breastaurants’ was damaging to women’s mental health.

It found female servers who were required to have their bodies on display in revealing uniforms experienced negative emotions including sadness, anxiety, degradation, anger, insecurity, confusion and guilt.

It meant that such employees may experience higher levels of anxiety and disordered eating.

But it seems that the Hooters brand has largely been undeterred after sparking backlash with its suggested change in uniform in recent years.

In October 2021, Hooters took its ‘delightfully tacky, yet unrefined’ mantra to new hemline heights after introducing even skimpier outfits for its female staff.

Many voiced outrage over the ‘tiny’ derriere-baring design, while comparing the style to ‘panties’ and ‘underwear.’

Hooters competition: How dozens of other ‘breastaurants’ followed in its footsteps

Hooters paved the way for a whole host of competitors keen to replicate the chain’s early success.

Proving that sex sells, the most popular contenders have been the likes of Twin Peaks, Tilted Kilt and Show Me’s – to name just a few.

And so, as these other chains all carved out their share of the market, Hooters lost its monopoly. 

Restaurants across all sectors of the industry have been putting up prices over the past two years – passing on higher costs to customers. 

But these price hikes have likely led to a fall in visitors.

Bigger chains like Applebee’s, TGI Fridays and Boston Market have have all recently shuttered restaurants, as have smaller chains like BurgerFi.

Chains have been worst hit in California where the minimum wage for fast food restaurants jumped to $20-an-hour from April 1. 

Similarly, according to Business Insider, the company may also be suffering from the impact of changing tastes as far as young men and women’s sexual fantasies are concerned. 

The outlet reported in 2017 that ‘millennials are less interested in breasts than their elders,’ after adult website Pornhub revealed that people between the ages of 18  and 24 were 19 per cent less likely to search for breasts when seeking X-rated content online than older generations.