Scandalous world of Hooters from bikini pageants to uniform rows and famous staff – as racy chain shuts dozens of sites
IT'S the controversial chain known for its 'three B's' — beer, bar food and buxom waitresses.
But after Hooters dramatically shuttered 40 of its restaurants without warning this week, fears are growing for the future of the US institution.
Famed for its female waitresses, whose revealing uniforms play up their sex appeal, Hooters has enjoyed staggering success over the last four decades - leading to the brand even launching its own airline.
It also holds in-house bikini pageants where winners can walk away with a $30,000 prize, and produced a calendar series starring 200 members of staff.
At the height of its powers, Hooters had more than 600 locations globally, but now that figure is down to 293.
Over the weekend, branches in Florida, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia were closed, with the company blaming the rising price of food and rent.
'We look forward to continuing to serve our guests at home, on the go and at our restaurants here in the US and around the globe."
Over the years, Hooters has courted controversy, being slammed for its “regressive” mission statement, while facing lawsuits from members of the public and its own staff.
However, it has also been praised by ex-employees - some of whom are now celebrities and Hollywood stars.
Here, we look back at the highs and lows of its 41-year history.
However, many female employees still hit out at the change because it left barely anything covered.
While hosting her branch's bikini competition she left customers in stitches with questions like "Where are the bin bags?"
Nowadays, the comic is very aware that her daughter might wonder why she ever worked at the chain.
She said: “Violet might look at me and say, ‘Why work at Hooters, that’s not very feminist?’ Well, I was just living in the world that I was in, and it was different. And we didn’t have smartphones, Violet, and this was still acceptable.
“It’s not like I was misbehaving – that’s what the world was.”
Late Glee star Naya Rivera also worked at Hooters before finding fame.
"In my 20-year-old brain, I knew I was cute. So I thought 'Cute + Hooters = better tips," Rivera wrote in her autobiography Sorry Not Sorry.
But it didn't work out as well as she had hoped.
"As it turns out, Hooters may have been a job for bimbos but it was not a job for slackers," she said.
Other famous staff members include Amy Adams, Chrissy Teigen, Playboy bunny Holly Madison, and Anna Burns.
Legal troubles
"You have to work up to it. If you're there for a year or two, they offer scholarships, too. My managers would let me do homework in the office as long as I was taking care of my tables.”
She also claimed she hadn't had any bad experiences during her four years working at Hooters in the 2010s.
Hooters gave me that self-esteem to own my body and my sexuality
Ashley Yonan, former Hooters girl
Courtney also revealed the clever way girls put off punters who didn't want to take no for an answer.
She told the magazine: “Well, actually a lot of the girls buy fake engagement rings. We'll go to Target or whatever and buy huge big rings and wear them so that if someone creeps us out enough we just hold up our hands like, 'Sorry, I'm taken.'”
Fellow former Hooters girl Ashley Yonan, now 33, claimed the tiny outfits made her feel more confident.
She said: "I got curvier in my uniform, but I felt better because Hooters gave me that self-esteem to own my body and my sexuality."
Ashley reckoned that, outside of a few innuendo comments, most of the punters who came in were pretty respectful.
She only saw one incident of something being touched inappropriately, and the man who did it was swiftly removed from the restaurant.
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She added: "All the girls I worked with, myself included, worked there because it was fun. I never felt degraded; quite the opposite, actually. I felt empowered while working there.
"I was able to take control of my sexuality and my body and use it to be seen how I wanted it to be seen.