BrigadierSensible posted:

If I may, I'd like to ask for stories/information/reflections of a piece of Americana that has not been fully realized in this thread: breastaurants.

Aardvark! posted:

BrigadierSensible posted:

If I may, I'd like to ask for stories/information/reflections of a piece of Americana that has not been fully realized in this thread: breastaurants.

Hooters is the big famous one. And to a younger me, they embodied all I needed to know about America. Boobs, bimbos, beer all in a franchise level of mass produced tackiness sports bar setting. If I am in a city that has a Hooters, I make a point of visiting at least once. So far I have visited Hooters in America, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, and Korea.

Yes, I know the disappointment that is an actual Hooters. Overpriced mediocre chicken, and pisswater beer in big glass mugs served to you by a young girl who is being actively exploited by her employer, and is forced to performatively flirt with middle aged losers who creepily ogle her in a work uniform that is designed to be uncomfortable. When I was in America years ago, I spoke to a Hooters waitress in Dallas who told me that they get paid as little as $2 an hour, so the HAVE to work for tips and do the "present boobs and giggle" otherwise they don't earn enough to eat.

Anyway, I know that Hooters is now not the only brand that does restaurants like this, and also that (I assume), it is an America only phenomenon. So I was wondering if there are people who have worked there, or frequent places like this regularly, and would have Americana style stories of and information about them.

Aardvark! posted:

Twin Peaks

zedprime posted:

Forgot this was a part of the experience until you reminded me. Best experienced when a waitress has graduated to BWW because of age or skill but still uses the breastaurant playbook for a bunch of distracted multigender business lunch folks.

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

It's to pander for boomer customers and their kids that think like them. Seriously. That's the bulk of the market. There's a small base of women customers that eat at Hooters to avoid being stared down by creepy guys at Applebees, and they tip their servers typically very well.

I cooked at a Hooters for a while, the kitchen is full of men. The back of house is run like any other chain restaurant. The food is from Sysco or another equally generic service that brings Tyson wings, and the rest of the food. Wages for servers are lower because they're expected to earn tips. I think I was making $11/hr to cook at the time, but that was going on a decade ago. My first shift was during a bikini/swimsuit event, it was packed with assholes.

I would specifically avoid the oysters in land locked state restaurants. There's no reason a Hooters in South Dakota or wherever should be serving them (I was in a Memphis area store and the oysters were always turning the day after delivery). Typically everything else is fine because it can be frozen, like crab legs.

It's a lovely business but it works. Twin Peaks is another similar chain. It's basically Applebees or TGI Fridays food and tits. There will always be an audience for breastaurants, because boomerism is a brain cycle for too many people, but there are always people willing to deal with the bullshit for tips, which can be quite large, but are often not. Also, the women at Hooters just destroy the bathroom daily. Mens room would routinely be a two minute clean, the ladies always looked like someone threw a party inside with all their gross friends.

I had been working in bar kitchens for years by that point, so I was rather desensitized to their practices before starting there. It's not the worst place for a guy to work in a kitchen after a divorce, but it's a terrible environment for women who serve. I haven't eaten in a Hooters since I quit.


Also Adam Sandler is obsessed with Hooters. Seriously.

zedprime posted:

Forgot this was a part of the experience until you reminded me. Best experienced when a waitress has graduated to BWW because of age or skill but still uses the breastaurant playbook for a bunch of distracted multigender business lunch folks.

Aardvark! posted:

my imgur uploads are refreshed so here's the food from that place

Bonzo posted:

Did anyone ever order the wings and bottle of Dom for $100?

Big Beef City posted:

Seriously this is one of the most unironically mysogenistic things I've read in GBS in a good while.

"When a chicks tits get too flappy for Hooters but she still tries showing off? 'Heeey lady, I go to the strip club as a joke AFTER work. This is a Buffalo Wild Wings here, and this is a Business Lunch! My clients, Eddie and Vanessa, are lookin' at buying an RV ain't we folks!, And we don't need any of that now!'"

redgubbinz posted:

2112

I'm enjoying the posts, keep em coming but only if you want to of course!

Aardvark! posted:

gonna need more ##s / specific or even vague county requests soon goons. im gonna do the funny numbers after the outstanding requests

Aardvark! posted:

gonna need more ##s / specific or even vague county requests soon goons. im gonna do the funny numbers after the outstanding requests

Bonzo posted:

Add Tilted Kilt to the list of Breastaurants. I ended up at one on a business trip to Chicago and had no idea what it was. The guys I was with were very excited to go, but I thought maybe the food was really, really good. Nope. Just a half naked wait staff fake smiling their way through serving horny business men pitches of Bud Light.

EoinCannon posted:

I love these zip code travelogues, I love seeing the banality of everyday life in other countries
It's a bit like that old thread 'tell me why where you live sucks' which was fantastic

3070

my dog died im sad posted:

There is a crazy amount of bikini coffee stands where I live. Some of them are in pretty much the same location. It's nuts that they can all stay in business.

Aardvark! posted:

Vincent Van Goatse posted:

Can I straight up ask for Yuba County, California?

Waterbed Wendy posted:

Really want to eat at gups after I saw the memes

Bonzo posted:

I'd like to request Yuma, AZ.

Bonzo posted:

I'd like to request Yuma, AZ.