[4] The Hooters name is a double entendre referring to both a North American slang term for women's breasts and the logo (a bird known for its "hooting" calls: the owl).

[6] The menu includes hamburgers and other sandwiches, steaks, seafood entrees, appetizers, and the restaurant's specialty, chicken wings.

Almost all Hooters restaurants hold alcoholic beverage licenses to sell beer and wine, and where local permits allow, a full liquor bar.

[15][16] After Brooks' death in 2006, 240 buyers showed interest in Hooters of America Inc., and 17 submitted bids, with that number being reduced to eight, and then three, before the selection of Wellspring Capital Management.

[14] Chanticleer Holdings LLC of Charlotte, North Carolina, which had the right to block the sale after a $5 million loan made in 2006, did so in a December 1, 2010, letter to the court.

[20][21] In June 2024, Hooters abruptly closed approximately 40 locations that were deemed underperforming, blaming rising costs and a decline in sales as part of the decision.

Hoots is distinguished from its original concept primarily by a reduction in menu items and employment of both male and female servers who are modestly dressed in t-shirts and khakis.

Thomas J. Valentine, a Navy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer, was killed during a training exercise February 13, 2008.

On April 1, 1993, Kulwicki, along with several others including Hooters Chairman Bob Brooks' son Mark, were killed in a plane crash near Bristol, Tennessee.

They were flying back to the track for Sunday's race after making a sponsor appearance at a Hooters in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Hooters remained in the sport, sponsoring drivers like Loy Allen Jr., Rick Mast and Brett Bodine before ending their involvement in 2003.

The restaurant returned to NASCAR in 2007 to sponsor a Craftsman Truck Series team led by Jason White, Derrike Cope and Brad Keselowski.

[33] For the 2016 Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Hooters made a comeback in the Cup Series with a one-off paint scheme for Greg Biffle.

[41] The Orange County National Organization for Women (NOW), as well as three other California chapters, filed a complaint against Hooters with several district attorneys in 2010.

[48] In 1997, three men from the Chicago area sued Hooters after being denied employment at an Orland Park, Illinois, restaurant.

The settlement allows Hooters to continue gender-restricted hiring in its wait staff; the chain agreed to create other support jobs, like bartenders and hosts, that must be filled without regard to gender.

[50] In 2001, a jury determined Hooters of Augusta Inc. willfully violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending unsolicited advertising faxes.

[52] Also in 2001, Jodee Berry, a waitress at a Hooters in Panama City Beach, Florida, won a beer sales contest, for which the promised prize was a new Toyota automobile.

[53] In 2004, it was found that job applicants to a Hooters in West Covina, California, were secretly filmed while undressing, prompting a civil suit filed against the national restaurant chain in Los Angeles Superior Court.

[55] In September 2009, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against a North Carolina charter airline (formerly Hooters Air, owned by Hooters of America) on behalf of Chau Nguyen, an Asian flight attendant fired three years prior after complaining only white workers were being promoted.

[56] In May 2010, a lawsuit was filed against Hooters in Michigan after an employee was given a job performance review and was told that her shirt and short size could use some improvement by two women who held positions at the headquarters in Atlanta.

The plaintiff alleges that she was made the offer of a free gym membership and told that if she did not improve in 30 days, her employment would be terminated.

Johnson was terminated in August 2013 after her store manager (from the Hooters in Baltimore, Maryland) told her that she could not have blonde highlights in her hair.

Johnson filed a civil rights complaint with the State of Maryland Civil Rights Division where her attorneys stated the applicability of the dress code for Black Americans and everyone else (e.g. non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander American) where one set of policies pertains to a certain group of people was considered as racial discrimination.