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By RODNEY HO
The Hooters at the Las Vegas Hooters Hotel and Casino. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images file)
For its entire existence, Hooters has been mocked and reviled for its entire concept, from its double-entendre logo to its tight bright orange short shorts to its efforts to be a “family-friendly” restaurant.
At the same time, the wings chain has grown consistently and become part of the American landscape. So much so that CBS is giving Hooters an entire prime-time hour Sunday for its new reality show “Undercover Boss.”
Coby Brooks, the CEO, shaved off his goatee, donned glasses, journeyed to Texas last year and spent several days rotating through jobs such as a cook, a busboy, a promotions guy and a store manager. He learned more about his operations from the ground up.
“I went undetected,” said Brooks, whose much brasher father built the company before relinquishing the CEO title to him in 2003.
Brooks said as a high school and college student he washed dishes and did other jobs at a Hooters in Myrtle Beach, S.C. But two decades later, it’s not any easier. “I forgot how hot it could get in the kitchen and how much running around you can do,” he said.
Overall, though, he said it was “a great experiment.”
“I met a lot of great people,” he said. “I’d do it again.”
He readily admitted, though, that there was one job he wasn’t eligible to take on. “I’ll never be,” he said, with a chuckle, “a Hooters girl.”
CBS management is banking that this type of inspirational show will work well during a recession, when employees want to show their bosses how hard they’re working during tough times. The network placed the debut episode, featuring Waste Management, in the cushy post-Super Bowl slot last week, drawing a sizable 38.5 million viewers.
This is not a risk-free venture for Hooters. Brooks said Hooters relinquished all rights to CBS in terms of how the show would be edited in return for 10 million to 15 million sets of eyeballs the chain otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. In fact, Brooks won’t see the episode until Sunday, like everybody else.
But he’s confident Hooters will turn out just fine.
“CBS is a very reputable network,” Brooks said. “We didn’t have anything to hide, so why not?”
Bottom line (no pun intended) is that Hooters is like any other restaurant. They serve food and provide customer service. Everything else is left up to those who criticize. They happen to have some good food and it depends on where you go if the service is good or not.
My vote and my “Wifes” vote is that they have good food at a fair price. The scenery is not bad either. Each waitress that works there is knowledgable what the working conditions are. They choose whether to work there or not.
I give the CEO a 10 for going out there and better understanding what his/her employees go through on a daily basis. Many more CEO’s should go through the same process!
Enough Is Enough.
Ok, the United States has raised over 528 Million (Headline) “Help Haiti Exceed $528-Million, Chronicle Tally in Philly. “ Now we did more than any other country and it is time to collaborate right in the United States and help clean up our own backyard. Hooters by giving to the homeless would show they are about family as well. There is a Reverend, named Trey Noran in the Denver area that has a desire to open two homeless hotels, his web site Hislovestreetministries.com I read and heard of this man from face book and just last evening on WCAN Radio. My suggestion is that George Clooney followers and other Stars assist Reverend Noran right here in this country.
Dr. Sophia Hudson