http://www.star-telegram.com/100/story/1163904.htmlMove over, Hooters: New restaurants moving in on the market
By JOHN AUSTIN
jaustin@star-telegram.com
Good restaurateurs know how to sell the sizzle, and few chains have done a better job of hustling the stuff over the past 2½ decades than Hooters.
But now, inspired by the success of Hooters’ wings-toting female staff, restaurants such as Twin Peaks, Bone Daddy’s and other local operators with cute waitresses, cold beer and a male clientele are, well, busting out all over. And Texas, where the sole Hooters’ franchisee is both the chain’s sales leader and No. 1 in locations nationally, is a prime market for the "breastaurant" concept.
Having withstood lawsuits by men who wanted to join the women-only waitstaff and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination charges, Hooters had systemwide sales of $997 million in 2008, up 2 percent from 2007, according to a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution report. Hooters won’t admit to worrying about the competitors, even in a bad economy.