Forget the quintessential image of the British butler as the epitome of discreet decorum.

"Butlers in the Buff" has proved such a business success as half-naked waiters in Britain that the firm is now off round the world to market the ultimate "male order" service.

The company, whose waiters wear only a bow tie, collar, cuffs and a bottom-revealing apron, is the brainchild of former Royal Marine Jason Didcott who turned entrepreneur after serving in the Gulf and Bosnia.

Determined to find a tasteful alternative to strippers and pole dancers, he lays down strict rules -- each waiter undergoes a scrupulous police check and drink-fuelled clients are firmly told to keep their hands to themselves.

"What we are looking for is James Bond in a butler outfit. We want them to be cheeky but clean," he told Reuters.

"At the end of the party they can have their photo taken with the butler but that is as far as it goes. If they have too much wine and try to undo the apron, he says No Touching."

"We want nice, charming, gentlemanly types. At the interview we just check their upper body. We take their bums on trust."

The waiters readily admit to first night nerves -- but they soon conquer them.

Butler Dan Atkins said: "I love the job. I could't think of a better way to earn money. At first you're nervous but you soon forget your bum is on display and you get on with serving drinks and mingling."

Didcott, and his company partners Will Jones and Stacey Lynn, has 75 part-time butlers on his books to staff hen parties, corporate functions and the fast growing market of gay wedding receptions.

The butlers range from actors, dancers and students to personal trainers and even a hypnotherapist. "We are desperate to find more. We never have enough," he said.

Didcott is now ready to expand the horizons of Butlers in the Buff.

"We have a business model we want to franchise out. We have had so many people passing through London who have rung us and said they would like to do it. I'm thinking of North America, Australia and South Africa as first stops."

But Didcott, who when launching the firm did his first party for free as a half-naked butler, draws the line at any more parading of himself.

"At 37 I am over the hill in butler terms. My bottom retired three years ago."