The Birth of Hooters Air
Hooters was originally founded by six entrepreneurs in Clearwater, Florida in 1983. A year later, another group based in Atlanta, led by investor Robert H. Brooks, saw the potential of the company and bought the brand immediately. They called it America's first "cool restaurant" chain, and claimed that they would pioneer the practice of having young waitresses wear short shorts and tight tank tops.
Hooters restaurant chain waitresses in sexy outfits.
Under the new owner's leadership, Hooters grew exponentially, growing from a few small stores in Florida in the 1980s to a chain of more than 430 restaurants worldwide by the 2000s (including Taiwan, Venezuela, and Switzerland).
By 2003, Brooks was flush with cash, and he wanted to expand his brand. Brooks bought a small charter airline called Pace Airlines and repainted the planes with the company’s signature orange logo. Hooters Air was born.
Low cost airlines, "cool" flight attendants
At the end of 2019, an article appeared on Forbes with the topic: “The world’s most deceptive airlines”, and of course, the name Hooters Air was included.
With an initial fleet of six small Boeing aircraft headquartered in Myrtle Beach (Carolina), Hooters Air promises extremely low fares, starting from just $99/one-way ticket to more than 15 destinations across the United States.
The airline’s impressive point, in addition to making money through advertising on planes, is its hot flight attendants. Hooters applies the “cool waiter” model to its airline, with the motto that when passengers board the plane, it is like entering a restaurant, being guided to their seats and served food by sexy ladies.
The “Hooters girls” in their sexy short shorts and tight tank tops.
On each flight, two girls from Hooters restaurants will be present, and the remaining three will be flight attendants certified by the Civil Aviation Authority. For the Hooters waitresses, “job hopping” from serving in restaurants to serving passengers on flights is a very interesting thing. “It’s a great change. Instead of serving food and cleaning tables all day, on the plane, we basically just talk and entertain or play quizzes,” one waitress shared.
The flight attendants had no complaints either. “I had a navy blue uniform and an orange scarf with a little owl embroidered on it,” said Hooters Air flight attendant Sara Nitz. “It was very professional.” Kimberly Cerimele, another flight attendant, added: “Normally, flight attendants are responsible for serving food on the plane. But we just do the necessary safety procedures. Then two girls from Hooters come out and do a little quiz or sing a song. They don’t have any training; they’re there to entertain the passengers.”
A former Hooters Air pilot humorously commented: "I'm probably one of the few pilots who's ever flown a plane straight up."heaven".
A Hooters girl is preparing for a quiz.
Cerimele, a former Hooters employee, said she never saw any form of harassment on flights. “There was definitely flirting. There were people who drank a little too much on every flight. But nothing bad ever happened,” Cerimele said. “It was fun. We just did our jobs, that’s all. It was a great experience.”
An airline that invests in quality
In fact, Hooters Air attracts customers not only because of cheap prices or the presence of girls with sexy uniforms, but also because of the difference in quality. It started with a series of advertising programs focused on golf enthusiasts, with the strength of more than 100 golf tournaments held each year right in the city where the headquarters - Myrtle Beach.
In addition, despite selling tickets at very competitive prices compared to competitors, all seats on Hooters Air not only have spacious legroom like business class, but are also covered in luxurious black leather.
And the biggest difference is the service during the flight. Unlike low-cost airlines that often cut services and sell extra meals and souvenirs to increase revenue, Hooters Air does not sell anything, and even provides free meals on flights over an hour.
The "funny" appearance of two waitresses.
These strengths quickly yielded positive results. "When operating at full capacity, Hooters Air easily brings 3,000 to 5,000 guests to the Myrtle Beach area each week," said Brad Dean, Myrtle Chamber of Commerce Director. "Hooters Air is not just an airline, it is the largest community program I have ever seen. Mr. Brooks believes that Myrtle Beach has the opportunity to develop into a major tourism and economic center in the country."
In addition, Hooters Air also brings significant revenue to the small areas where it operates, such as Gary Indiana airport and South Chicago.
…But still failed with a loss of 40 million USD
Despite its positive economic impact on many areas, Hooters Air eventually ceased operations in 2006, just three years after its launch, with a loss of $40 million. The failure also ended the employment of more than 350 employees, from pilots, flight attendants to operating engineers. Seven Boeing aircraft in operation were also sold to cover the losses.
There are many reasons given, first is that the aviation market is still in shock after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many customers only want to fly with major airlines because of safety factors. With the "cool" advertising campaign of Hooters Air, many people began to ask the question: Is this an airline, or just a brand that is all "airline"?
In addition to fierce market competition, Hooters Air's fares were quickly copied by long-standing airlines with more destinations such as Southwest, causing this young airline to quickly lose an important weapon.
Finally, the price of gasoline, from the time Hooters Air started operating until its bankruptcy, the price of gasoline in the world continuously increased, pushing companies with poor economic potential into an extremely difficult situation.
“The airline industry is a mess,” said President Brooks. “Hooters has a lot of money, but it’s not enough to fix this situation.”
However, the failure of Hooters Air did not stop the progress of the “mother” brand - Hooters. Hundreds of stores continued to operate effectively and pushed the value of the 40-year-old restaurant chain to hundreds of millions of dollars. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hooters company is still operating steadily until today, proving the sales effectiveness of “charm” never decreases.
