On Its 30th Birthday, Hooters Is Going Straight Edge With A Family Makeover

As we learned during Saturday’s UFC on FX 7 live discussion, Dana White’s empire has once again teamed with the restaurant franchise Hooters to make it the official watch party location for the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, which debuts tonight at 8 PM on FX. So if you’re excited about Team Sonnen vs. Team Jones – as you should be – and you also prefer your fried food to be delivered by the daughters of former hair metal video vixens, then today is your Christmas.

Alas, I type before you today with a heavy heart as the bearer of bad news. It seems, friends, that the fine people at the Buffalo wing breastuary have decided that Hooters, in spite of its empowering history, needs a makeover. That’s right, the franchise that helped a young Jon Gruden earn his first paycheck and many a sorority girl sidestep membership fees on SeekingArrangements.com is going “family friendly”.

The new look involves “sleek and contemporary finishes” a high ceiling, painted ductwork, bright cypress wood walls and light-colored brick, the company said. There will also be new booth seating and high-back chairs “with an enhanced seat size and added padding.”

The hope, according to Hooters Chief Marketing Officer Dave Henniger, is that customers view the revamped store as “the ideal environment to kick back and relax after work, get together to watch their favorite sports team and enjoy a delicious meal with their family.” (Via the LA Times)

That means that the Hooters that we all know and love – the one that made Anna Welker’s opinion somehow matter – will go from looking like this:

To looking like this:

I feel at home already.

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