Would You Go For The Food or The Service?
Hooters style restaurants are said to be helping the US through the recession, with them becoming such a big trend, could they thrive in the UK too?
Twin Peaks (see what they’ve done there?) a US sports bar, has it’s waitresses dressed in tiny plaid tops exposing their breasts and a pair of barely there shorts and promises ‘scenic views’.
Despite the obvious ‘tack’ factor, the restaurants are doing surprisingly well and are beginning to pop up all over the US.
Twin Peaks owner Randy Dewitt insists people keep coming back because they are well looked after then they visit the restaurant.
He told the Daily Mail, “We believe in feeding the ego before feeding the stomach.”
These type of restaurants take inspiration from Hooters, which introduced the concept in the 1980’s, but has been struggling in recent years.
This has inspired different themed ‘breastaurants’ to open their doors, such as Twin Peaks, a mountain lodge themed restaurant and the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, which is Celtic themed.
Both restaurants serve themed food, and this brings the belief that customers come for the food just as much as they do the service.
The top three ‘breastaurants’ behind Hooters, saw a 30 per cent rise in sales in the last year, compared to the downfall in sales of eateries such as Applebee’s and Bennigan’s, found Technomic, a food industry research firm.
Darren Tristano, an analyst at Technomic says, “The younger crowds want to go to a newer place, not where mom and dad took them.”
Tilted Kilt, which serves dishes such as shepherd's pie and 'Irish nachos', saw a growth of 33 per cent in its annual sales last year, pushing them up to $124 million. The company are planning to expand their ‘breastaurant’ chain to 95 locations, up from 57, by the end of this year.
With these restaurants seeming to do better than any others in the recession, could we see them make a move over to England, and would you visit them regularly?
Cara Mason @Cara_FAM
tagged in Restaurant