The Hooters restaurant chain is getting a makeover.
The popular eatery with its iconic and revealing uniforms for servers is revamping its image, ditching the bikini nights and becoming more family-friendly as its CEO lamented its over-sexualization, and one franchisee said he wants to welcome “the over-60 crowd.”
“After the recent announcement that Hooters of America has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of an effort to enable a founder-led buyout and restructuring of the popular restaurant chain, the CEO of one of the two purchasing franchisee groups told Fox News Digital of plans to make Hooters ‘more acceptable to mainstream society,'” Fox News reported.
“For over two years, we’ve been complaining,” Neil Kiefer, CEO of Hooters Inc., told Fox News Digital in speaking of the orange shorts servers wore in the restaurants. “[But] we only had standing to complain. We couldn’t rule how the [restaurants] were being run.”
Hooters is here to stay.
Today we announced that we have entered into an agreement to position Hooters for stability and growth – all while continuing to deliver the guest-obsessed hospitality and delicious food you know and love. 🧡🦉https://t.co/cMTZiB1ctA pic.twitter.com/TAAPJxZJ6M
— Hootie (@Hooters) March 31, 2025
He noted how the original concept is not what ended up being used in the chain’s locations, saying they “went to the more revealing” shorts, “which to us does not jibe with a neighborhood restaurant that some families choose to frequent.”
“You don’t want to have a butt cheek in your plate,” he added. “The [shorts are] supposed to be sized to fit appropriately. They’re supposed to be athletic, not so much sexual.”
“I think that’s one of the mistakes the people at Hooters of America made going down that route,” Kiefer told Fox News Digital, adding that the weekly bikini nights will be no more.
“You don’t want to walk in after a Little League game with your team and have a bikini contest in the store,” he said, though some will certainly be disappointed.
Hooters is re-branding to make it a more family-friendly restaurant. The company’s CEO calls it ‘Re-Hooterization’ #Hooters #Detroit #FOX2 pic.twitter.com/WtIwJJMPgD
— Jessica Dupnack (@DupnackTV) April 2, 2025
Hooters Inc. founded the concept in 1983 and the Clearwater, Florida-based company owns and operates 22 eateries in Florida and Illinois.
“The original owners are taking back the concept, returning it to its roots, and restoring the success it’s enjoyed for 42 years,” CEO Sal Melilli told “Fox & Friends” last month. “While every owner has brought its own flavor to this, we’re about to return to our roots with our original group out of Clearwater and bring it back to what the brand’s all about.”
.@Hooters CEO Sal Melilli, who started as a dishwasher, touts plans on @foxandfriends to revive the once-beloved brand as a “family-friendly” restaurant after financial troubles forced the chain to file for bankruptcy. pic.twitter.com/4ruMXJujvr
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 3, 2025
Kiefer spoke about the many plans to revamp the restaurant, but the Hooters swimsuit calendar and annual Miss Hooters International Pageant are not on the chopping block.
“That will remain,” Kiefer said. “We may not have it this year … [But] there’s nothing wrong with beautiful women.”
Chris Torelli is the director of merchandising for Hooters restaurants in South Florida and is the managing partner of the Boca Raton location, where he says the plan to to move ahead with the new direction.
“We want the kids. We want the families. We want the over-60 crowd. We want the college students. We want them all,” Torelli told Fox News Digital. “The best way to do that is to appeal to all those different demographics.”
