The Biggest Changes Coming To Hooters After The Chain's Founders Take Back Control

In early 2025, Hooters, arguably one of the most controversial restaurant chains in America, filed for bankruptcy. While the chain dates back to 1983, it began facing financial difficulties even before the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time it made the filing, the company had closed over 125 locations since 2019.  A group called Original Hooters LLC, made up of some of the original owners and investors, has taken control of the restaurant again, buying it back during the bankruptcy process with plans to reinvigorate the franchise.

The new-but-old owners want to take Hooters back to its roots, and for them, that means making it family-friendly, doing away with the controversial and revealing uniforms the chain is known for. The orange shorts and white t-shirts remain, but the plan is for the shorts to become more modest, keeping in line with how uniforms looked in the 1980s when Hooters opened. Those shorts are by no means long, but they are closer to a traditional athletic short and not as revealing as some later versions were under the previous owners.

As for the rest of the uniform, which is traditionally just a tight, revealing shirt, there are no changes planned. Instead, the rest of the revamp will focus on the restaurant itself and the food that it serves.

Hooters is famous for chicken wings, but despite that, reviews over the years have not always been kind. The wings are often considered inconsistent or average, although we ranked them fairly high amongst other popular chains' wings. In order to address this problem and put the wings front and center again, the chain plans to make all of its wings fresh, no longer using frozen products. That also includes hand-breading the wings according to the original recipe and using AA-grade butter in the wing sauce. That focus on freshness will extend across the menu, which will be simplified. No word on exactly what that means or what may be cut, but the new owners seem focused on higher-quality ingredients. Another thing diners can look forward to at the revamped Hooters is salad dressings that are made in-house. Outback's famous scratch-made ranch proves this is a good idea. In addition, diners can look forward to wild-caught fish and freshly made salads. 

Improvements to service and equipment are also planned, but no specifics were covered. Whatever they have in store, given how long the chain has been around, the new owners, with their past experience, are in a position to understand their customer base and perhaps turn things around.