Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Food service |
Founded | October 4, 1983 Clearwater, Florida, U.S. |
Founders | Lynn D. Stewart Gil DiGiannantonio Ed Droste Billy Ranieri Ken Wimmer Dennis Johnson |
Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
Number of locations | 430+ |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Burgers, chicken wings, seafood, Tex-Mex, full bar[1] |
Revenue | US$605 million (2021[2]) |
Owner | Nord Bay Capital TriArtisan Capital Advisor |
Number of employees | 15,000 (2021[2]) |
Website | hooters |
Hooters is the registered trademark[3] used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital (with TriArtisan Capital Advisor as its advisor).[4] The Hooters name is a double entendre referring to both a North American slang term for women's breasts and the logo (a bird known for its "hooting" calls: the owl).[5]
The waiting staff at Hooters restaurants are primarily young women, usually referred to simply as "Hooters Girls", whose revealing outfits and sex appeal are played up and are a primary component of the company's image. The company employs men and women as cooks, hosts (at some franchises), busboys, and managers.[6] The menu includes hamburgers and other sandwiches, steaks, seafood entrees, appetizers, and the restaurant's specialty, chicken wings. Almost all Hooters restaurants hold alcoholic beverage licenses to sell beer and wine, and where local permits allow, a full liquor bar. Hooters T-shirts, sweatshirts, and various souvenirs and curios are also sold.
As of 2016[update], there were more than 430 Hooters locations and franchises around the world and Hooters of America LLC. owns 160 units. In 2012, there were Hooters locations in 44 US states, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and 28 other countries.[7] Hooters also had an airline, Hooters Air, with a normal flight crew and flight attendants and scantily clad "Hooters Girls" on every flight.[8]