Hooters Girls - Behind the Breasts and Buffalo Wings

(The following is the first entry in which may be a mulit-part series of pieces on my interactions and candid conversations with current and former Hooters Girls ....but I doubt it.)

Hooters was founded in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida. According to their website, to date, there are over 430 Hooters franchises in 28 countries. Multiply that by the number of servers (known as Hooters Girls) each franchise has employed over the years, and that's tens of thousands of current and former Hooters Girls with a story to tell.

Over the past few years, I've spoken candidly with several current and former Hooters Girls about their experiences as Hooters Girls and their reasons for working at the popular restaurant chain with the double-entendre name. I'm, in no way, implying that working at Hooters should be equated to working at a strip gentlemens club or go go bar. Hooters is a restaurant patronized by the general public. In fact, some may even consider it family friendly. I've seen entire families with young children come into Hooters and sit down for a meal. The girls even brought coloring placemats and crayons to the tables for the kids. However, you don't see servers like these ladies at Denny's or Applebees.

Of course, the girls do have to tolerate a certain amount of leering, sexual innuendos, and flirtation, but many have told me it's a small price to pay in exchange for the gratuities they receive. The tips the girls get at Hooters are much better than what they would get from working as servers at Denny's, Applebees, or even a upper scale restaurant, where the 15%-20% rule is usually followed. Any former or current Hooters girl will tell you that quite often, the amount of the tip will greatly exceed the amount of the check. In addition, the hours and schedules the girls work are more flexible than those at a "regular" restaurant. That's because many of the girls have outside careers they pursue, many in modeling and the performing arts. One for example, "Julie" (photo above, taken in 2010), a tall, Asian-American semi-professional model who worked at the Downtown Phoenix Hooters, enjoyed a sort of celebrity status at her workplace.

Coco Komatsu

Born and raised in Tokyo, import model Coco Komatsu was brought to my attention by another very talented lady, model, artist, and designer April Syrup, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing last year

Coco began her modeling career in Japan, where she still calls home, but she's gradually making quite an impact in the US market and her trips to the States are becoming more frequent. One of her most notable appearances has been on the cover of the May 2012 Super Street magazine. More recently, Coco was in Los Angeles for a shoot with her favorite photographer Rey Trajano and an appearance at Autocon, where she was one of the featured models.

Despite her very busy schedule, Coco took some time out during her recent stay in California, where she was very willing and able to answer most of my questions. Besides being an extremely sweet and gracious lady, she speaks much better English than she gives herself credit for ....particularly impressive since she's mostly self-taught.

Original Hooters Girl, Lynne Austin

Former Playboy Playmate and original Hooters Girl, Lynne Austin probably couldn't care less about getting any more publicity, let alone being featured here, but for a date with all 1's in it, it's appropriate to feature a lady who was the first in her field. So, here's the very first Hooters commercial from 1983 featuring the first Hooters Girl Lynne, explaining how they keep their beer so cold. Definitely a classic.

Seoul Hooters Girl, Jessie

While researching Hooters restaurants in Asia for last month's entry on Japanese Hooters girls, I happened across some photos of 24-year-old student and former Seoul Hooters Girl, "Jessie."

Very friendly and outgoing, Jessie (her “Hooters Girl name,” not her real one) worked at Seoul's Apkujung Hooters until March of last year. In May, she moved to Sydney, Australia, where she's been working as a waitress in a Japanese restaurant, while going to school to study Spanish. Even though she's currently undecided about continuing with her modeling, she eagerly agreed to be featured here with a brief (and her first ever) interview.

Japanese Hooters Girls

For those of you who didn't already know, Hooters opened up its Japanese franchise last October 25th in Tokyo's Akasaka Plaza, making Japan the sixth Asian country Hooters has included in their expansion. The other ones are China (Beijing, Chengdu, and Shanghi), the Philippines (Pasay City), Singapore, South Korea (Seoul), and Taiwan (Taipei).

Above, we have Tomo, Chica, and Yuu displaying some of what Hooters is famous for....and the food's pretty good, too. Yuu was quoted as saying, "when you come to Hooters, you can look forward to having just as much of a good time as when you go to Disneyland!" 

Halle the Hooters Girl

Halle the Hooters Girl was a short-lived comic book character that was the brainchild of entrepreneur Susy Johnson. Unfortunately, the buxom blonde chicken wing-serving heroine was so short lived, you're looking at the cover of the one and only issue. It seemed that Cabbage Comics used the Hooters name, image, etc., without permission from Hooters, Inc., despite the fact that they stated in the issue that they did. So, after being threatened with a lawsuit, Cabbage Comics pulled the plug on Halle. I have no idea why the two parties didn't work out a deal, since it could have been a real win-win situation, but they didn't and the following are some panels and a rundown on the one any only adventure of Halle and company from the January 1998 debut and final issue.

Teasers Girls

Teasers was a small Tennessee-based restaurant chain that was, in essence, a Hooters rip-off. From the color scheme and interior of the restaurants, right down to the outfits of their sexy female servers. (I'm not complaining, mind you, just saying.) They'd hoped to give Hooters a run for their money. They didn't. Not because anything at Teasers was bad (I ate there and I'd give the food, atmosphere, and servers all a thumbs up) ....it just wasn't Hooters.

I happened to run into these two Teasers Girls at right, during the 1994 Summer Lights festival in downtown Nashville. The ladies were handing out these fliers and just doing some PR for the then-newly-opened sport grill. What they're wearing here wasn't the official Teasers Girls uniforms, which were very similar (of course) to the Hooters Girls uniforms.

Teasers has long since gone out of business, which isn't a surprise, especially since Hooters franchises started popping up all around Nashville during the mid-90s. So, the reason this post isn't in the "Whatever Happened to.." file, is because it's no mystery whatever happened to the Teasers Girls. They got jobs at Hooters.

Korean Hooters Girls

In January, the Hooters restaurant chain opened a franchise in Seoul, making South Korea the fourth Asian country with a Hooters restaurant. The other three being China (with three), Singapore, and Taiwan. Though most of the Korean Hooters girls may not fill out the classic orange and white outfits quite like their Western counterparts, they more than make up for it with their Far Eastern charms and enthusiastic service.