As Hooters emerges from bankruptcy under new leadership, the restaurant chain's CEO says the company's future depends on something deceptively simple: returning the brand to its roots.
That starts with the food.
Neil Kiefer, CEO of the Florida-based Hooters founding group that, along with another franchisee, reclaimed control of the brand from the private equity-backed Hooters of America, told Fox News Digital that many customers haven't seen the real menu in decades.
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"I can tell you, of those 110 stores we've taken over, [those locations] haven't had the original sauce on them in 20 years," he said.
The company had to clear out inherited inventory "that didn't meet our specifications" before restoring recipes to their original "taste profiles," Kiefer said.
Kiefer called the original Hooters sauce "a craveable sauce" that was lacking in certain locations from El Paso, Texas, to Fairfax, Virginia.
"They had a substitute sauce, which was not the real sauce," Kiefer said. "It's the craveable thing that makes our food so good."
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To ensure consistency, Hooters has formed a new food task committee — now involving franchisees who previously had no say in menu decisions, Kiefer said.
"We're all running the same stores," Kiefer said, describing a system of mandatory, optional and regional menu items designed to rebuild uniformity across markets.
The brand's "re-Hooterization," as Kiefer calls it, also includes reversing what he described as years of missteps in tone and presentation.
Some of the stores Hooters recently reacquired had strayed into what he bluntly calls "little boys' club stores," where the dining experience veered too far toward sexualization.
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Uniforms were a flash point. Hooters of America introduced skimpier shorts that prompted backlash from employees, Kiefer said.
"They really weren't given a choice," Kiefer said of Hooters servers. He said they were "embarrassed" to wear the uniform.
The new leadership has swapped them for an "athletic look" modeled after the brand's original dolphin shorts, which Kiefer said are "sporty in nature."
But he insisted Hooters isn't abandoning its identity.
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"Being an attractive woman — there's nothing wrong with it," Kiefer said.
Although in-restaurant bikini contests are a thing of the past, the swimsuit calendar will remain, he added.
"This was the girl next door, the cheerleader … maybe not as prevalent as in today's society, but we still think it's an iconic person in our society," Kiefer said.
One of the chain's most reliable audiences today is adults over age 60.
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Hooters opened its first restaurant in 1983 — so many in that demographic grew up with the brand and now have the time and money to dine out frequently, Kiefer said.
They "have more spendable dollars, in many cases, and would rather not eat at home," he said.
Hooters offers an atmosphere that is "comfortable, yet it's not overstuffy," Kiefer said. He believes it's a place to watch a game while the "grandchildren can run around."
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The new Hooters in the retirement community of The Villages, Florida, became a six-figure weekly store since opening in June, Kiefer said.
But expansion isn't a priority for the new Hooters leadership, Kiefer said.
Before reopening in markets that previously had a Hooters or finding new franchisees, Kiefer's team wants to stabilize operations and rebuild trust.
"We want to get the brand right again everywhere … before we start signing people up for the sake of just bringing money in," Kiefer said.
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"This is about getting the thing right," he added. "We're not in this to sell this. I'm not a young person. We got into all this to keep this around forever."
