Hooters opens first China outlet in Shanghai
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-22 14:29

Hooters is also famous for its young and active "Hooters girls", who add the attractions to the restaurant. Hooters chose 150 Chineses girls in Shanghai this September to work for the furture Hooters Shanghai restaurant after having training course in America.

America's Hooters restaurant chain plans to open its first China outlet in Shanghai on Friday, bringing its racy combination of cold beer, chicken wings and skimpily dressed waitresses to one of the world's fastest growing economies.

The outlet in the foreigner-friendly Hongqiao district adds to the more than 375 stores now operated by the chain famed for its busty waitresses clad in clingy low-cut tank tops and high-cut shorts _ an image the company describes as "delightfully tacky, yet unrefined."

A VIP party is scheduled for Friday evening with the store opening to the general public on Sunday.

Following decades of austerity, Shanghai now boasts hundreds of hostess bars, massage parlors, sex shops and telephone chat lines. Couples kiss and hug openly, while public opinion surveys show broad acceptance of premarital sex among young people.

Hooters' investors are betting those changing attitudes will take its "Hooters Girls" in stride.

Since opening its first store in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983, the chain has expanded across the United States and into the world.

While critics deride its portrayal of women, the Atlanta, Georgia-based chain has overcome a U.S. federal investigation and several lawsuits to become a cash cow.

Along with aggressively expanding its restaurant chain, parent company Hooters of America, Inc. now runs a discount airline - Hooters Air - sports events, and a planned Las Vegas hotel and casino.

A number of well-known American food chains are already competing for increasingly choosy Chinese diners.

Kentucky Fried Chicken already operates 1,000 stores in the country, McDonald's 567, and the TGI Friday's chain five. With China's economy growing at an annual rate of more than 9 percent, all plan further expansions.

With its large expatriate population, Shanghai seems a natural choice for establishing the brand in China.

Yet it's unclear how the native Shanghainese, who are increasingly spoiled for dining choices, will respond to the newcomer.

"The market share is only so big for American food, and chains like Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's won't easily give way to Hooters," said Xue Yuanqing, a director with the Shanghai Culinary Association.

He added: "I don't know much about this restaurant, but generally, American food is not known for any particular virtues."

Close