A 73-year-old Florida lawyer is betting he can rescue bankrupt Hooters by rolling back skimpy uniforms and banning “butt cheeks hanging out” — even as job postings still require servers to maintain “glamorous hair styling” and “ability to maintain attractive fit & image.”
Neil Kiefer, who’s been friends with Hooters’ founders since 1992, is fighting in bankruptcy court to take control of 50 shuttered locations and transform them back into what he calls “delightfully tacky” family destinations.
“I don’t think you’re going to see a bunch of butt cheeks hanging out,” Kiefer told the Wall Street Journal, explaining his plan to ditch the bikini-style bottoms some restaurants adopted in favor of traditional orange shorts.
Despite efforts to appeal to families, current job postings for “Hooters Girls” explicitly list physical appearance standards alongside serving duties.
Hooters of America crashed into bankruptcy in March after years of declining sales, citing inflation pressures and mounting debt that killed the chain’s $1.2 billion peak from 2009.
Kiefer, who already owns nearly two dozen Hooters locations, wants to become chief executive of the management company and “re-Hooterize” the struggling brand with $300,000 worth of upgrades per restaurant.
His plan to turn the chain around includes having butter sauce slathered on more than 70% of menu items, which he plans to upgrade to Grade A butter across all locations.
His strategy of maintaining its provocative identity while attracting families eating lunch alongside men who come to “flirt” with servers contrasts sharply with recent changes that made uniforms even more revealing. Those tighter, shorter shorts “dragged down the brand’s image,” he told the Journal.
While the chain hopes to attract more families into their locations, the waitresses know their appearance remains a key draw for diners.
“You need to be camera-ready always,” explained server Mikayla Flanagan, 25, who spends hours preparing her hair and makeup before each shift.
“You never know when someone is going to ask for a picture.”
The chain’s cultural relevance has become increasingly questionable, as evidenced by a viral Reddit thread titled “Who the F—k Is Keeping Hooters in Business” that generated over 8,000 comments.
Customer Jeff Oppido, a 42-year-old project manager, perfectly captured the modern dilemma.
Despite considering Hooters’ prices decent and beer selection good, he stopped visiting after changing jobs.
“We felt this place was a bit awkward to be in,” Oppido told the Journal.
Yet Kiefer claims success with an unlikely demographic. His new location at the Villages senior living community in central Florida posted record sales, suggesting the brand’s appeal transcends age groups.
The chain’s origins as an April Fools’ Day joke by six restaurant novices who wanted a place “they couldn’t get kicked out of” has evolved into a legal and cultural minefield.
Hooters has settled numerous harassment lawsuits from servers and discrimination cases from male and black employees denied positions, paying fines and agreeing to operational changes while maintaining its all-female waitstaff.
Kiefer faces the challenge of reviving a brand that peaked during an era of different social attitudes.
His locations currently show sales down 2% compared to last year, though he claims recent improvements.
The bankruptcy court decision in Dallas will determine whether Kiefer’s vision of butter-soaked nostalgia can compete against casual-dining competitors like Chili’s that appeal to budget-conscious consumers.
“There’s so much more than the little outfits,” Flanagan insisted, embodying the contradiction Kiefer must navigate between sex appeal and family dining.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
