Starbucks 'Trenta': How The New Size Compares To Your Stomach
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Photo: Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill
"Our competition has been getting stale," says Doug Guller, who opened his first Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill in North Austin in 2006. "If they're Microsoft, we're Apple."
Guller isn't the only entrepreneur who suspects Hooters' sovereignty is waning: Heart Attack Grill, with its sexy "nurse-waitresses" and the Tilted Kilt chain, where servers wear tartan bras and short skirts, are among the more notable recent attempts at improving upon the concept pioneered back in 1983 by Hooters, a chain that's lately been getting attention for its struggles in Vegas and less-than-flattering cameo appearance on Undercover Boss.
"The market is growing," Guller confirms.
At Bikinis, the standard server costume is cowboy boots, a short denim skirt and a bikini top. Each diner is guaranteed visits from at least three servers. While the Bikinis' uniform isn't much racier than what's on view at most American beaches, Guller said even he was surprised when he opened his first restaurant outside Texas last year and nobody complained.
"I thought that would cause a lot of controversy, but it didn't cause any," he says of his venture into Charlotte, N.C.
Controversies over waitresses not wearing much at all haven't entirely subsided: Last month in Washington, where a bikini barista fad erupted a few years ago, prosecutors charged a café employee with unlawful public exposure for serving coffee with x-shaped pasties on her nipples.
Yet greasy food and good-looking women have proven to be a recession-proof combination, for reasons nobody quite understands. According to a theory put forth by New York Magazine in a story last summer, there's an inverse relationship between the economy and the general "hotness" of waitresses, since even the most beautiful women can't sell real estate and staff luxury auto showrooms when nobody's buying. But Guller doesn't believe his restaurants have benefitted from a sudden influx of more attractive servers.
"I think we're resilient for four reasons," he says. "One, I think people are going to eat no matter what. Two, they'll drink, happy or sad. Three, they'll always watch sports. And, four, I'd say people in a down economy probably won't turn gay."
Gym Teacher Arrested For Relationship With Student
Broke Stars: 11 Celebrities Who Went Bankrupt
Stonehenge Mystery Explained By Sound Illusion, Archaeologist Says
Social Security Is Failing Even Faster Than We Thought
Man Says Starbucks Discriminated Against Him Because He Has Half An Arm
WATCH: Nancy Grace Defends Her Controversial Comments About Whitney Houston
Chris Brown, Grammys 2012: Embattled Singer Slams Critics
Ford's clever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ad features phantom model
Molly Ringwald's Kid-Friendly Style
98-Year-Old's Birthday Surprise: Eviction Notice From Her Son
'Hooker Teacher' Forced To Resign, Now Can't Find Work
44 Things You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents
Van Gogh's Starry Night modded into beautiful interactive light and sound show (video)
Nick Cannon Hospitalized: Star Reveals New Serious Health Condition
Man Finds Huge Surprise Inside Safe He Bought On eBay
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) in-depth preview
NUDE ON TAPE: 300-Pound Man Strips, Steals Socks At Walmart
Hitler's Love Child Reportedly Born To French Teen
Rick Santorum Picks Up Key Ohio Endorsement
PHOTOS: Jen's Got A New Look!
BUCHANAN OUT AT MSNBC
Colbert's Mother Lorna Ill; Show On Hold
Teacher Suspended For Telling Hispanic Student To 'Go Back To Mexico'
Brrr! Get Ready For Blizzards This Weekend
Taste Test: Our Quest For A Standout Strawberry Jam
Joe Scarborough And Mika Brzezinski Say They 'Strongly Disagree' With Pat Buchanan's Ouster From MSNBC
HORROR: Dad Comes Home To Find His Wife Drowning Their Kids
Westboro Baptist Church Members Plan Protest At Whitney Houston's Funeral
The Most Expensive City In The World Is...
The Low-Down On Your Lady Parts
25 Black Models Who Broke Barriers
Cruise Ships' Answer to Lonely Ladies: Gentlemen Hosts
3-16-2010 @5:55PM wendyH said... No, sir. If Hooters is Microsoft, you are Packard Bell--the skanky, brokedown weirdo cousin. Ew.
Reply
3-17-2010 @10:52PM karen said... LOL!! Good one!! Don't they already serve food in strip clubs? Why would someone want someone's sweaty private parts, after an hour or two of waitressing, near their food??
3-18-2010 @12:07AM Larry said... Right On!!!! ROFLOL I so totally agree with you wendyH and sexyfood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3-16-2010 @6:32PM Mickey said... I can't wait for the first lawsuit from a server getting burned in a discreet yet exposed place or a customer picking out a hair in the chili cheese fries!
Line 'em up!
Reply
3-17-2010 @12:58AM matt said... They're forgetting the fact that Hooter's has incredibly delicious chicken wings, regardless of their waitresses.
Reply
3-17-2010 @10:32PM Phillip said... Hooters food is not good at all. Next time you get the wings, take a paper towel fold it and wrap it around the wing, it will be soaked in grease! Nasty. I used to go there for the scenery only and ate because I had to
3-18-2010 @12:13AM Larry said... You said it matt!!! Hooters has awesome food. Don't get me wrong Hot ass chicks but regardless of them the food is great.
3-18-2010 @7:01AM Chris said... Phillip,
Fat gives flavour - that's why leg meat tastes better then breast, and well marbled outdoor reared steaks cost more than the indoor 'all the fat on the outside' stuff.
Our bodies evolved to reward us for fat intake back when survival was a struggle. The higher the fat content, the more pleasure receptors in your brain fire.
And that's why Hooter's Chicken Wings taste so good - all that lovely lovely fat...
3-17-2010 @10:18PM cbfan92 said... yeah, and next thing you know, all they'll have another restaraunt where the waitresses are naked and wear high heels.
Reply
3-17-2010 @8:57PM lee said... ya baby,,, we need more,,,cheers
Reply
3-17-2010 @11:06PM luckyfreeman said... Variety is the spice of life and competition in the bussiness world is good Thats the American way. We need more working people in America and I say its a good start . Maybe if some of you people want to take off a few pounds get healthy get a job and get on with life it might just be a good start. At least somebody is trying to do something. Good luck. I like hooters and now I will have somewhere else to get a good meal.
3-17-2010 @11:08PM luckyfreeman said... Hello America, Wake up somebody is trying to create jobs for those brave good females that want to do something with thier lifes and not rely on government handouts or a government job that gets thier paycheck from the taxpayers funds. I salute this company and wish them well. I salute all the females that apply for the jobs and wish you all well. Good luck ladies.
3-18-2010 @12:34AM yve said... Oh, please...it's just another example of the ongoing soft-pornification of women.
And, Luckyfreeman, are you saying these women couldn't get jobs if they wore more clothes??
3-17-2010 @9:23PM Haleigh said... Trash,Trash,Trash....
Reply
3-18-2010 @2:13AM getreal13 said... Hot woman, that serve good food & beer and don't talk to damb much. HHMMM, wonder what kinda guy would enjoy a place like this????? Did I mention that they don't talk too much(nag, complain)either.
3-18-2010 @9:20AM Haleigh said... Well your mighty intelligent aren't you?!? Let me guess, you don't have a girlfriend and your not married? Hmm...maybe its because your a chauvinistic PIG! Get a life.
3-17-2010 @9:34PM IBEHONEY2U said... although you have a valid point~ The pople that are going to these places for 1> could care less about the food or the calorie intake~ 2. Its a fact that men like woman on the trashy side~ of course most would never want to marry them , and certainly few bring their wives there for lunch~ Its a culture or just a fact that men like this , if it were men in speedos the place would close down~
Reply
3-17-2010 @9:53PM mollee whitlock said... we're turning into britain...we will all be completely naked on every chanel on tv, our children will be looking at nude billboards while were driving them to school, our restaurants are getting horribly disgusting, Hooters used to be a place where the windows were t inted black so people who didnt want to see it, didnt have to...BUT today at the gym whats on the tv?? a Hooters commercial. This is disgusting and I am so ashamed I am an American and I have to raise my children here...pathetic stupid hoes. And of course...what woman wants her married husband looking or even going to a place like this? these girls should be ashamed and will one day regret this once theyve had kids and arent "perfect" and their husbands want to go to these places.... - Mollee, 21
Reply
3-18-2010 @7:36AM Chris said... And you've been to Britain when? We are certainly amongst the more prudish in europe, and certainly don't have nudity on billboards. There is nudity on TV, but after 9pm, when kids should be in bed.
I think the world would be a much better place if we weren't so hung up on nudity. Is seeing a woman's breast (or God forbid a penis!) really worse then seeing someone getting shot in the head, or a decaying corpse? because you can see both of these things pre-watershed, in the USA and the UK.
Or have I just been trolled?
3-17-2010 @10:09PM kathygulf said... Oh-please !What's next a vegeterian restaurant w/I'd rather go nude that eat meat?With nude waitreses--
And I'm sure this bikini restaurant w/dumb bimbos will turn down-waitresses regardless age,weight or color or appearance will turn down-people that REALLY need to waitress to make money to feed their kids.........
Reply