- In 1983, Lynne Austin was offered an opportunity to be a "billboard girl" for a new restaurant called Hooters.
- 42 years later, she reflects on Hooters' early days, unique marketing, and rapid rise in popularity.
- The early Hooters was very different from what it is now, she said.
This as-told-to essay is based on conversations between Business Insider's Liz Rowley and Jess Orwig with Lynne Austin, 64, the original Hooters Girl and a 42-year veteran of the company. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I've been proud to be the original Hooters Girl since day one, when we didn't even know we would be what we are today.
I got involved with Hooters in 1983. I was 22, working as a telephone operator and doing bikini contests as a side gig. After winning a contest on Clearwater Beach, the secretary of Ed Droste, one of Hooters' founders, approached me and said I'd be a perfect billboard girl for a restaurant that Ed and his partners were ready to open.
I thought, "I don't even know what a billboard girl is." Instead, I told her, "Sure, OK." I took his card, went home, and forgot all about it. Two months later, I was driving to another bikini contest, and I saw a construction sign: "Coming soon: Hooters." I made a hard right toward the parking lot, and that turn changed my life.
Watch Lynne, Ed, and other famous Hooters names recall the early days and how the company has evolved over more than four decades:
I initially scrubbed fridges
I was totally into the idea of being the Hooters Girl, wearing the uniform, and posing for pics. What I wasn't so wowed by was the idea of quitting my job and becoming a waitress, but Ed persuaded me with talk about "world fame," so I figured, why not give it a shot?
I quit my job in July 1983 because Hooters was supposed to open around the first week of August. Then September rolled around, and we still weren't open due to some licensing issues, and I was getting nervous because I wasn't making any money.
I told Ed I needed a job, and he pointed me to one of the owners, Gil DiGiannantonio, who told me to come down and they'd find something for me. He put me to work scrubbing refrigerators, stoves, and other kitchen appliances for the restaurant for $5 an hour until we finally opened in October. That was a long September.
The Hooters I first started working at was very different from today's establishments
The atmosphere at Hooters in the beginning was very different from what it is now. People didn't know what to expect when they came in, and honestly, we didn't know what to expect day to day.
I remember one time Gil told me we had to let a waitress, Brenda, go because she was wasting too much product. She would grab the paper towels on a spool from the back and drag them all the way through the restaurant if someone asked for a napkin. I was like, "She's making people laugh. This is what we are, we're fun! Please, don't fire her." He didn't.
It was barely controlled chaos, but it was a blast. That said, we initially weren't generating any revenue. I was pulling double shifts, sometimes three in a row, just to scrape by. We were winging it, doing anything we could to get customers.
Then, around spring break of '84, about six months after opening, it was like a switch. We were suddenly seeing hourslong lines out the door. It was something else. People couldn't get enough. I'd never seen a meteoric rise like that before or since.
I'd never seen such a meteoric rise
Hooters' success is largely due to its off-the-wall marketing. Ed was the brains behind a lot of it, willing to do anything and everything to try and get publicity.
We'd be at the restaurant at 5:30 a.m. to pick up a platter of freshly prepared wings and bring it to the local radio stations for a chance to promote ourselves on the radio. We got a lot of doors shut in our faces, at first.
Ed and Brenda — yes, paper towels Brenda — painted "Hooters" in bright orange on a capsized boat along the busy Courtney Campbell Causeway connecting Tampa to Clearwater.
Ed would even stand outside the restaurant in a chicken suit to try and get people in. We posted a billboard of me in the now-iconic orange shorts and white t-shirt. I also modeled for Playboy, which got us more publicity.
It was all marketing.
I had no idea that the billboard of me would bloom into what the brand has become. Eventually, it felt like my face was everywhere — on taxis and the side of the semis that brought in our food. It never ceased to thrill me.
Hooters is my family
As we grew and expanded, I had more opportunities, such as helping to open new restaurants and contributing to the annual calendar and pageant.
A couple of my favorite moments were when I dropped the flag on the Hooters 500 and when I marched on Washington in 1995, protesting the sex bias case against Hooters.
Yes, sex appeal was part of the Hooters concept. However, Hooters and its waitresses are so much more than the restaurant. After 42 years, they've become my family.
The Hooters Girls are my sisterhood. Some of those women were my bridesmaids and attended the birth of my children. We've been each other's support system through highs and lows, and I still stay in touch with some of them, including Brenda.
I worked as a waitress and guest bartender for Hooters for about seven years until I branched out and took on other roles, including in radio and local TV, where I continued to promote the brand.
Looking back, I hope that I was an integral part of shaping Hooters. I still participate in events, such as judging the annual pageant and selecting the calendar. It has been the ride of my life, besides, of course, being a mom to my four kids.
