All About Hooters

[elyse]

That's a rediculous question.

[hollywood]

That's a rediculous question.

I'll drink to that.

[tommy]

Funny, as a woman I would feel more comfortable in a strip club than I would in Hooters.  Not sure why.

I've never been to either.

elyse,

there's a strip joint in bloomfield a few minutes from the market. i'll pick you up on thursday and we can shoot over. then we'll stop at hooter's and you can do a comparison and post our thoughts.

bring pie.

[hjshorter]

Funny, as a woman I would feel more comfortable in a strip club than I would in Hooters.  Not sure why.

I've never been to either.

elyse,

there's a strip joint in bloomfield a few minutes from the market. i'll pick you up on thursday and we can shoot over. then we'll stop at hooter's and you can do a comparison and post our thoughts.

bring pie.

I wanna go!

::pout::

[beans]

Hi elyse!

Maybe Hooters (don't know, never saw it, never was there to order....) does as one bar that is next door to where I work and will use food service zip loc baggie sorts of bags filled with ice from the ice machine? Flat, warming draft beer = :greenguy smilie: Blech!

Did someone say pie?

[tommy]

a tied up bag of ice to put in your pitcher if for some reason you are not drinking beer quickly enough.

That would totally gross me out.

they call these things "floaters" in some parts of South Carolina. i forget how they do it, but i think it's a pint glass with ice in it, floating in the pitcher. i freaked me out at first, but i was only 22 or so, and i didn't really care. i don't think i've ordered many pitchers since then, however, so i'm safe. in fact, i rarely order draft beer at all.

[anil]

The closest I have been to a Hooter restaurant was walking on Dam, in AMS in mid-late 90s. It shut down obviously after a few years , given its proximity to Old Church area. The Manhattan joint I gather was/is in Chapter-11.

I speculate that Hootera are popular in regions of US, where moral-majority rules the waves , hence Hooters becomes like Bud-Lite

[Rail Paul]

The closest I have been to a Hooter restaurant was walking on Dam, in AMS in mid-late 90s. It shut down obviously after a few years  , given its proximity to Old Church area. The Manhattan joint I gather was/is in Chapter-11.

I speculate that Hootera are  popular in regions of US, where moral-majority rules the waves  , hence Hooters becomes like Bud-Lite 

The economic failure of the Hooters in Manhattan was noted at the time with some interest. Perhaps Manhattanites are jaded by their access to places like Scores, Lace, and other higher end gentlemen's clubs?

Amsterdam Hooters failure is no surprise, though. There's lots more action, as you note, just a few blocks away

[tommy]

Perhaps Manhattanites are jaded by their access to places like Scores, Lace, and other higher end gentlemen's clubs?

addresses please?

i think it goes beyond the access to gentlemen's clubs. manhattanites, and those who don't live in manhattan, but spend time there, are notoriously anti-chain, and, much too "cool" for a place like Hooter's.

Edited July 19, 2003 by tommy (log)

[fifi]

All of this talk about Hooters is really funny. As a professional woman in a mans profession, I have had the "opportunity" to visit many of these places. I have even been to Boy's Town in Nueva Laredo. Anybody who thinks these women are being exploited are in a testosterone fueled dream world. The guys just don't want to admit that they are being "had".

Funny story about Hooters. I was in the position of approving a certain manufacturer to supply a really big company. The young man, son of the owner, was a real dickhead. He, at lunch, boldly proclaimed that he was the local Hooters franchise owner. I put on my icy bitch-kitty corporate persona and said "Oh... Really". The look on his face was priceless.

[Stone]

I smell the next eGullet dinner . . . . and for some reason, everything tastes like tuna fish.

[SWoodyWhite]

I can understand having a Hooters in San Francisco. I can understand having a Hooters in Buffalo. I can understand having a Hooters in all sorts of places.

But a Hooters in REHOBOTH BEACH, DELAWARE? It's true, they've got a new franchise in my soon-to-be home, noted as a beach resort catering heavily to the gay communities of DC, Baltimore, and Philly! All right, obviously not exclusively to those communities, but it does seem an odd place to plop down a franchise.

I can see the advertising now: "HOOTERS, your ALTERNATIVE choice!" Who could have forseen this?

Edited July 19, 2003 by SWoodyWhite (log)

[KateW]

I've been to both. I feel more comfortable at a strip club because there's no false reason for being there (ie the food). Does that make sense?

[tommy]

I've been to both.  I feel more comfortable at a strip club because there's no false reason for being there (ie the food).  Does that make sense?

oddly enough, i recently had some very good chicken tenders at a strip club. the burgers looked good as well. much better than anything i've had/seen at hooters.

and there was a pool table with no one playing. it was confusing, to say the least.

[jhlurie]

It's easy to mock Hooters--they kind of invite it.

I used to have a college friend who lived in Clearwater, Florida, so I first visited a Hooters many years ago (this is at least fifteen years back). The original location is actually a bit of a dump, but no more or less than most Bar & Grill type places in Florida (or anywhere for that matter) and that's what it was meant to compete with--the "Strip joint" and "regular restaurant" comparisons are just plain weird given that they aren't shooting for either of those audiences.

Remember, at this point in history the Clearwater location, along with a few other ones in Florida I think, were the entire chain. Nobody outside of Florida had ever heard of it. So the name and apparent positioning of the place kind of appalled me. I asked my friend why we were heading there. Partly it was to relieve the hosting burden on his parents, who were putting us up, and partly because they (who were pretty much gourmets) thought it was "quaint" and edible if you stuck to the chicken wings or sandwiches and ordered the hotest sauces. So off we went.

Even then, that far back in the chain's history, the place was PACKED with families--kids and women, married guys, single guys, people obviously on very cheap dates, etc. A bit surprising. According to my friend the atmosphere was a bit different at weekday lunch--the waitresses would bend at the waist a bit over the single guys a bit more or sit down at the table and flirt, but they were content with a family crowd most nights, and the sports-bar type of crowds on game days.

Years pass and I'm never near a Hooters. Then, it must be ten years ago at this point, a location opens in Paramus NJ of all places--very near where my Dad used to live. Eventually I get talked into visiting Hooters and really, as far as I could tell (and from what other people told me) they'd again tried to cultivate the same Sports Bar With Breasts atmosphere. This time I was eating lunch--actually on a weekend--and I did see (heck, receive, from an enthusiastic waitress, the "royal" treatment) and having no real hangups about it, gave her a nice tip when we left. Did I feel it was akin to going to a strip bar? Not really, I saw considerably less than I'd see at the Beach. Whether or not the woman was degrading herself or simply sensibly using her assets to increase tips was not a burning issue for me, but then again I'm not a female or struggling with gender issues of exploitation from that side of the coin.

I've probably been back to that location in Paramus maybe... three times since then. Enough to see that the crowd in other hours was similarly family oriented and/or like any normal Sports bar during other hours, just as I'd observed in Florida years past. And I visited the Clearwater Florida location as kind of a nostalgia thing when I was in Florida about 2 years ago and saw the same thing (its acutally kind of a tourist trap now). I've even been to the Manhattan location once when I had a strange urge for a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (possibly the best thing they make at Hooters, if you get the sauce the HOTTEST). Am I a Hooters regular? No way. Do I have any urge to avoid the place? Nope. Am I in a position to say if women will be uncomfortable? Well, I'd say your WORST time to go would be the business lunch period, otherwise... probably not. Should women feel the place is sleazy? Heck, I haven't a clue.

One more... is the food worth it, or perhaps maybe just not repulsive? Well, it depends on what you think of Bar food, cause that's all it is. Not a bad implementation of it, and its got the consistency and quality of mass production and a tested formula behind it. No magic to the food, not a hint of excellence, but better than the McDonalds and Wendys of the world, and probably better than most of the Olive Garden/TGIFridays type of places. At least for a Chicken sandwich or chicken wings.

BTW: The Original Hooters, in Clearwater, Fl. used to have competition called "Melons".

[elyse]

Funny, as a woman I would feel more comfortable in a strip club than I would in Hooters.  Not sure why.

I've never been to either.

elyse,

there's a strip joint in bloomfield a few minutes from the market. i'll pick you up on thursday and we can shoot over. then we'll stop at hooter's and you can do a comparison and post our thoughts.

bring pie.

As long as you drop me off at the convent afterwards.

Not kidding either.

[Stone]

You like teasing the nuns also?

I forgot to mention that on my one trip to Hooters (in Clearwater, the original), the food wasn't too bad for a sports bar. And most of the waitresses were wearing sweat pants and "normal" sized shirts.

[maggiethecat]

Although sometimes I think that half the businesses in Chicago 'burbs are either Hooters or, er, "Gentlemen's Clubs" I have been to neither, and doubt that I ever will.

But: A kid who worked for me dated a Hooters girl. In the wintertime they were allowed to wear a long-sleeved shirt , because, well, it can get cold and draughty here in the Windy City.

The girls would try this once, and return to skin-tight tank tops on their next shift, because tips went down an average of 40% if more flesh was covered up!

(Tommy: Thanks for a handy masturbation euphemism I'd never heard of. )

Edited July 19, 2003 by maggiethecat (log)

[tommy]

(Tommy:  Thanks for a handy masturbation euphemism I'd never heard of.  )

the pleasure is all mine. it works for both boys and girls as well, which i think is neat.

[elyse]

Did I miss a euphemism?

Stone, I tease everyone! But I'm baking in a nunnery.

[hollywood]

Stone, I tease everyone!  But I'm baking in a nunnery.

Elyse, as Kinky Friedman would say, get yer biscuits in the oven and yer buns in the bed.

[Malawry]

I've never been to a Hooters. I also have never been to a Dick's Last Resort, but I wonder if therein lies another comparison. My understanding of both Dick's and Hooters is that the staff give you a hard time in good fun and try to embarrass you. And they do this as though they are fond of you, which helps them sell you burgers and beer. Hooters just adds sex appeal. Am I correct?

Heather, you and I can go on a DC tour to mimic Tommy and Elyse if you like. I have been to strip clubs, both ones with female dancers and ones with male dancers, but never to Hooters.

[elyse]

I have a question for the ladies out there. Would you rather go to a strip club featuring women, or men?

[mensch]

In my purely professional role, I have, upon occasin, eaten at hooters and several knock off establishments in Central Florida -- several of whom are in the process of being sued by Hooters for trademark infringment.

Service, as was pointed out earlier, goes far beyond the quality of the food. They have done some tweaking to improve the menu but, alas, 'tis still bar food.

Not that there's anything wrong with that so long as it is being served in a bar with (mostly) friendly attractive women.

Two items of note.

1.) Hooters also owns a small hotel in the Winter Haven/Polk County area called the Hooters hotel. It is NOT themed -- as of yet.

2.) When one orders wings at Hooters, ask for them hot and naked. The spice level is tolerable and they don't use that gummy breading which is why they normal taste so bad.

[tommy]

due to my never-ending quest to further discussion on egullet, and for chicken wings, i found myself at Hooters the other night.

the place was very bright and looked more like a diner than a sleazy joint. i found it odd that the place was filled with families with small children, and this was 10 PM on a saturday night. very odd indeed. although, the menu, TVs, and music suggest that it's a place that you could certainly bring your family, or where young people might bring dates. both of those groups seemed well represented.

one of the customers in a group of guys was getting married in a few weeks. the staff got wind of this, and of course they have a little routine for this situation. they all surrounded this poor not-quite-drunk-enough guy, and presented him with a plate that had one oyster, some greens, and 2 lemon halves, carefully arranged so that they might look like, well, you can probably guess. his charge was to eat the oyster and suck the lemons with no hands. after that, he was made to dance, and the entire restaurant was told that no one would be served drinks until he danced. it was all quite entertaining.

the wings, which are described as "nearly famous", were breaded and passable. if you order them "911", they are quite hot as well.

regardless of what the name suggests, the outfits that the staff wear seem more about legs and turd cutters than they do boobies. "butter face" seemed to be the trend at this particular Hooters. the girls, for the most part, seemed like they would rather be doing anything other than waiting on my friend and me. i can't blame them.

all-in-all, not an entirely unpleasant experience.