Trying to sell Hooters as a family restaurant is, at the very least, an ambitious exercise.
As Delish reports, there are fairly obvious orange shorts, tight shirt, chest-forward reasons why the brand has spent decades being shorthand for a very specific kind of dining experience. But according to the company’s current leadership, that image drifted far beyond what the original founders ever wanted, and now Hooters is trying to course-correct before there is, frankly, nothing left to hoot about.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, CEO Neil Kiefer said the company wants to make the brand feel less off-putting and more broadly appealing. “It’s a neighborhood place that many families frequent, and singles and couples,” Kiefer said, with the overall plan being to steer the chain back toward a more casual beach bar identity and away from the version that became increasingly more provocative over the years.
That reset is happening after a rough stretch for the company. Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025, and the brand’s original founders later stepped back in to take a larger role in its future. Since then, leadership has been trying to clean up both the chain’s image and the in-restaurant experience.
A big part of that has involved the uniforms. “They had changed the uniforms of the girls and put them in almost what appeared to be a thong,” Kiefer told PEOPLE. “And that was never the intention when this concept started.” That’s why the company began reintroducing older uniform styles in late 2025, including the more recognizable orange shorts from earlier eras of the brand.
Hooters has also been working on its menu—“They didn’t use the appropriate sauce, for one,” Kiefer told the outlet, as well as their ingredients and the overall atmosphere in hopes of making the chain feel like a place people might actually choose for the food and the setting. If Hooters is seen as more approachable and welcoming, weary customers might not feel the need to justify why they’re there in the first place.
It’s fair to say that reputations like theirs don’t exactly disappear just because a company softens the styling and starts using gentler language. Still, the chain clearly understands that it’s 2026, and nostalgia and cleavage can only carry a restaurant so far.
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Photo Credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock.com
