Hooters is turning over a new wing, aiming to trade its spicy image for a more family-friendly “neighborhood” flavor.
The restaurant, famous for its female servers and their revealing uniforms, is rebranding back to its original concept, which CEO Neil Kiefer described as “a beach-themed place centered around the Hooters Girls, good food, [and being an] easy place to relax.”
“It's a neighborhood place that many families frequent, and singles and couples,” Kiefer told People.
Kiefer, 74, has been involved with Hooters since its early days, beginning in 1983 when he joined the company as its attorney. He later became CEO in 1992, taking on a leadership role during a period of expansion for the chain.
He said that in the early 80s, Hooters servers wore dolphin-style running shorts, popular at the time as swimsuit cover-ups, which he said matched the chain’s original beach-themed concept and helped establish its laid-back, coastal identity from the start.
“It was a sporty athletic look at the time, and I think in the last 10 or 15 years, a lot of the country has seen a more sexualized version of that,” Kiefer said. “That chased away a lot of customers.”
He claims a major shift in the company’s direction happened after the original owners sold Hooters’ intellectual property and contractual rights in 2001. Following that sale, private equity firms began operating certain locations under the Hooters of America name. According to Kiefer, this change in ownership led the brand to gradually move “further and further away from what the brand and the concept stood for.”
Hooters has faced past legal and financial challenges, including discrimination-related lawsuits and setbacks during the 2008 recession and COVID-19 pandemic. After Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the fall of 2025, Kiefer and the original owners reacquired the brand’s intellectual property and about 140 locations, with plans to “re-Hooterize” the chain.
Kiefer said Hooters of America locations had several issues after a period when the original owners still operated some restaurants under Hooters Inc. between ownership changes.
“They didn't use the appropriate sauce,” for one, Kiefer told People. “About 70 percent of our food products have that sauce on it.”
“The second thing was they had changed the uniforms of the girls and put them in almost what appeared to be a thong,” he added. “And that was never the intention when this concept started.”
Despite the notorious little uniforms, Kiefer said Hooters has “always” been family-friendly. A recent New York Times story on the rebrand reported that one New Jersey Hooters location offers a “Kids Eat Free” Saturday deal, while also occasionally hosting “bikini nights” where servers work in swimsuits.
“If you've ever been to a Hooters in Chicago or in Tampa Bay or in South Florida, you're going to see tons of families, tons of children,” he told People. “It's [a] tongue-in-cheek type of beach theme restaurant.”
“I understand the word hooters, the Steve Martin joke,” he continued, referring to the comedian’s 1978 comedy routine quip about women’s breasts that inspired the restaurant’s name. “It was a double entendre. It was acceptable humor back then, and it's coming back to be acceptable humor, but it was oversexualized too much in the last 15, 20 years.”
Now, Kiefer said the chain is correcting past changes by restoring what he called the “right sauce” on its food. The company is also revisiting “the uniform” to better align with the brand’s original identity.
“There's nothing wrong with a pair of shorts if fitted properly,” Kiefer said. “But I think in a dining place, there is something wrong [if] they're in a thong type of uniform.”
“Just trying to make it more friendly to everybody. No one's going to be insulted,” he added.
