Posted on 11/09/2025 4:24:53 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
In early 2025, Hooters, arguably one of the most controversial restaurant chains in America, filed for bankruptcy. While the chain dates back to 1983, it began facing financial difficulties even before the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time it made the filing, the company had closed over 125 locations since 2019. A group called Original Hooters LLC, made up of some of the original owners and investors, has taken control of the restaurant again, buying it back during the bankruptcy process with plans to reinvigorate the franchise.
The new-but-old owners want to take Hooters back to its roots, and for them, that means making it family-friendly, doing away with the controversial and revealing uniforms the chain is known for. The orange shorts and white t-shirts remain, but the plan is for the shorts to become more modest, keeping in line with how uniforms looked in the 1980s when Hooters opened. Those shorts are by no means long, but they are closer to a traditional athletic short and not as revealing as some later versions were under the previous owners.
As for the rest of the uniform, which is traditionally just a tight, revealing shirt, there are no changes planned. Instead, the rest of the revamp will focus on the restaurant itself and the food that it serves.
Hooters is famous for chicken wings, but despite that, reviews over the years have not always been kind. The wings are often considered inconsistent or average, although we ranked them fairly high amongst other popular chains' wings. In order to address this problem and put the wings front and center again, the chain plans to make all of its wings fresh, no longer using frozen products. That also includes hand-breading the wings according to the original recipe and using AA-grade butter in the sauce.
(Excerpt) Read more at tastingtable.com ...
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A few years ago, Hooters promised that the employee who sold the most beer over a period of time would receive a free Toyota. The winner would be announced on April 1, which should have aroused suspicion.
The waitress who won the contest was blindfolded and led out into the parking lot to see her prize. When the blindfold was removed, she saw that what she had won was not a car but a doll of Yoda, a character in the movie Star Wars II.
This was supposed to be an April Fool prank, but the victim didn’t think it was funny. She quit, sued Hooters and won a settlement said to be enough to buy a real Toyota. And the joke was on Hooters, which took flak from the public over the stupid prank and lost a chunk of change as well as a good beer seller.
I remember grouper on the hooters menu.....never really understood it though.
Kinda like going to a seafood restaurant and ordering spaghetti.....WHAT!?
Wondered if ‘grouper’ had an extra ‘u’.
Ha, it’s getting light. I stand corrected.
You must have been out with an exceptionally handsome guy. Congrats. Or maybe it wasn’t he she was after.
“grouper...REALLY”
Oh yes the big fish on campus at the FSU Hooters location was always grouper and fine eating.
You could find grouper at pretty much any Florida location and Houston as well.
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