Random Florida Fact: This iconic restaurant launched in Florida on April 1, 1983. Here’s the story

ORLANDO, Fla. – Note: This story is originally a special episode of the News 6 podcast Your Florida Daily. Tap the player above to listen.

It’s hard to believe there was once a time when America was not obsessed with chicken wings.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, most American restaurants featured a formal fork-and-knife menu and provided a space for adults to dress up for dinner with their spouse or family.

But in October 1983, a new chain hit the dining scene that rocked the casual dining concept.

It featured a sign out front offering “Clams, wings, shrimp and oyster roasts.”

It had a laid-back, beach-side social atmosphere where you could sit down for a round of cold beer, watch some sports on TV and order these things called Buffalo-style chicken wings.

Oh, and one important thing I should mention: the waitresses were hot.

That chain, as you probably already know from the title of this story, is Hooters.

It’s now been more than 40 years since Hooters was founded in Clearwater, Florida, and say what you want about those skimpy orange and white outfits, the company estimates it’s employed more than 450,000 “Hooters Girls” over the last four decades.

The origin story of Hooters

“That all started with Lynne Austin, who they were having a Jose Cuervo contest on Clearwater Beach,” said Edward C. Droste, one of the founders who by all accounts came up with the idea of hiring gorgeous women as servers at his new restaurant.

Ed Droste is one among those later known as the “Hooters Six,” comprised of L.D. Stewart, Gil DiGiannantonio, Billy Ranieri, Dennis Johnson, Kenny Wimmer and Ed Droste.

Droste was a real estate executive at the time, flipping properties all over South Florida.

He and his buddies would go to different places for lunch and this one roadside restaurant in Dania Beach called Tarks had it all.

Tarks had good food, beach vibes and every class of customer. Ed thought, “How can I reproduce this in Clearwater?”

On April 1, 1983, he and his buddies — without any prior restaurant experience — launched Hooters Inc.

“We were pretty clueless,” Droste said. “So this was just six guys getting together saying, ‘Hey, we got to try this.’”

As you could imagine, opening day was interesting.

“It was empty. There were two carpenters and a plumber that came in and I was so glad to see him I bought their lunch, and then got lectured by my partners that we’re not going to get rich buying everybody’s lunches and dinners when they come in. So the pressure was on,” Droste said.

‘Flying by the seat of our pants’

It actually took months for the concept to catch on.

In the meantime, Droste and his team came up with funky promotions to drum excitement about those Buffalo chicken wings.

“Renting a chicken costume and running around in traffic,” Droste remembers.

One day, a boat sank next to the Clearwater causeway and gave Droste an idea.

“I saw it sitting there just totally facing all this traffic and we went got a six pack of beer and a can of paint. And we painted Hooters on the side of it.”

Which led to even more publicity.

But the greatest thing that ever happened to Hooters was hiring Lynne Austin.

The first Hooters Girl

Lynne Austin had just won a swimsuit contest on the beach when Droste jumped out his boat and swam over to talk to her.

“I put my business cards in a plastic bag and tried to chase down the winner. I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to open a restaurant,’ and she blew it off.”

Lynn eventually came around and became the first poster model for the brand new restaurant.

So, Ed and the gang are still doing all kinds of goofy promotions and capitalizing on the popularity of their scantily clad employees.

At one point, the company started Hooters Air, an airline which was not Ed’s idea.

“I always said, though, there are only two things I would not want to have: a Hooters airline, and I wouldn’t want to have a Hooters hospital.”

In 1992, Hooters is the official sponsor of a NASCAR underdog named Alan Kulwicki.

At the Hooters 500 in Atlanta, 170,000 fans watched from the stands when Alan Kulwicki won the Winston Cup.

“In our Hooters car, and it was the Hooters 500,” Droste said.

The Hooters brand is on top of the world — literally. In 1996, Hooters opened its first restaurant overseas in Singapore.

In 1997, the legal trouble began.

Legal battle of the sexes

The first lawsuit was filed by three guys who were told they weren’t allowed to be servers at Hooters, because they were men.

“They charged us with failure to hire men in the position of the Hooters girl position and we kind of thought it was kind of a joke,” Droste said.

That case was just the first of many lawsuits, including a few from women who said they were sexually harassed at work or racially discriminated against.

Hooters settled out of court in each case and, ultimately, federal regulators backed off the discrimination charges.

Chain experiences shrinkage

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the chain was expanding quickly and by 2013, there were around 430 locations around the world.

There was also competition.

“I’m curious what you thought of the term ‘Breastaurant.’ Do you like that label?” I asked.

“We don’t like it at all,” Droste said. “And it didn’t come out ‘til a few years into it. We don’t judge people. We’re not for everybody. And, you know, I would say the imitators of us put so much more of an emphasis on that.”

Hooters now has closer to 300 locations.

Critics say the decline is because you can get a better chicken wing somewhere else these days. Droste says the COVID pandemic was a big hit and pointed to a major side effect of that rapid expansion.

“It’s hard to get that kind of consistency.”

Hooters philanthropy

It’s also worth mentioning that Hooters has done a lot of good.

Its stores in Florida have raised half a million to a million a year for the Moffitt Cancer Research Institute.

Hooters has a campaign called “Give a Hoot” which has raised more than $9 million over the years for the V Foundation to fund breast cancer research.

Droste’s wife Marsha, a former Hooters Calendar Girl, plays a big role in their philanthropy.

“She was at the front of all this breast cancer stuff for the anniversary and she’s really good at it,” he said.

Restauranting is a risky business.

Lots of other successful restaurants have closed over the years and Hooters is one of the few chains that has held up to the competition.

Even though the company’s gone through several ownership changes over the years – Hooters is actually two different privately held companies – it helped change the way we go out to eat.

Hooters has a unique place in American pop culture – and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.