By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Bar Blogger
When I saw that Hooters was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, I decided to pop into one for what might be a last call at the once-thriving chain.
I have been to Hooters a few times, mainly in Florida where the concept was created. There, the girls don’t mind flaunting their attractiveness and attributes, and the bar thrived. Dressed in low-cut tops and those distinctive tiny orange running shorts, they provided a brief escape from reality where every girl in the bar was beautiful and would talk to you.
What I have always really liked about the place is that the Hooters waitress would come over and sit down with you to take your order. If you got a pitcher of beer, she would bring a bag of ice that she would place in it after pouring a glass to keep the rest of the beer cold. It’s a trick I took with me to bars in California and everyone thought I was a genius!
It’s been quite a while since I have been in a Hooters, 4-5 years. That was in Ft. Meyers, FL, and decided to go in for a drink and to “check ot the talent” as we guys like to say. I was not disappointed, either. I was kind of surprised to see that I was about the only customer.
The most convenient one to me now in San Diego is located in Mission Valley, a shopping neighborhood full of every Best Buy/Mattress Firm/Pet Smart type of retailer known to America where you see a lot more strollers than, well, hooters. The one in the Gaslamp Quarter closed years ago.
Upon entering and taking a look at the girls on duty, I remarked under my breath “no wonder they are going out of business.”
They were not what one pictures when the words “Hooters girls” are mentioned. They were chunky and not necessarily attractive, either (although, it must be said, the upper bodies of couple of them did live up to the bar’s tradition). You know it’s not the same when I walk into a Hooters and the only photo I take is of the sign on the building.
“Same here in the Midwest,” said my friend Scott, who was once such a frequent Hooters customer while traveling for his job that his company told him he had to start eating elsewhere or they would not pay his expenses.
This particular Hooters is not what I associate with a Hooters in other areas, either. For one thing, with a concrete floor and bartop, it has a cold and industrial feel to it. Hooters locations have always been cozy and comfortable – wood tables, wood barstools and wood paneling on the walls. Worse yet, tho, was that the girls were wearing black shirts with long(er) black shorts. No orange shorts!? A big part of Hooters’ identity is – or was – those orange shorts.
I asked the manager about that – not that the girls working that night would have done them justice – and he said, “the girls like the black shorts because they are more comfortable and are easier to wash than the orange ones.”
I also asked him about the potential Chapter 11 filing. “”It will have no bearing on this restaurant because we are a franchise,” he said. “It’s the same with other franchises, too.” He added that “even if things go completely sideways, someone will step up to buy it for pennies on the dollar because of all the money from the franchise fees.” So according to him, Hooters will be around for the foreseeable future.
Okay, but it’s not the same and certainly not worth going to with the boys after a round of golf. Hooters used to be a distinctive bar but now it seems as if it’s lost what made it such a success in the first place. And while that’s fine for the stroller crowd it’s not what attracts people such as myself, Scott and other loyal customers who were once the backbone of its business.
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