ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 13, 1996 TAG: 9611130058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY
A Cuppa Joe
Angie Stroup stood before the counter of a women's boutique at Valley View Mall and handed a Hooters Recruiter card to a young, blond, female employee.
The recipient took it, looked at it and smiled, seeming amused.
Her co-worker, an older woman, piped up.
"Is this a sexy bar?"
A restaurant, Stroup said.
"Do you have to have large boobs to work there?"
No, Stroup said.
"If you lift your arms over your head, do your boobs show?"
No, Stroup assured her.
Then they all laughed.
Hooters has come to Roanoke as a glossy restaurant inside what used to be a humble pancake house on Williamson Road. Stroup is an assistant manager. So is Leslie Dix. One recent, dreary morning, they tootled around town in the Hooters Scooter, a white minivan with the Hooters name, and the trademark wide-eyed owl, pasted to its sides.
Their mission at Valley View was simple and subtle: Pass through the mall examining wares and taking note of the women who worked there. Give recruiting cards to those who seemed right for the Hooters roster, and invite them to apply for jobs.
"We kind of let them interact with us," Stroup said.
"If they know who we are, they might not act natural," Dix said.
330 apply for 80 to 100 jobs
From the careful way they proceeded, you would have thought Hooters was some illegal outfit. Instead, it's a 200-unit restaurant chain with annual revenues of some $300million.
In a culture sensitive to discrimination, it plays female sex appeal for a joke. Its servers wear orange running shorts, white bras beneath tight tank tops, tan pantyhose, white tennis shoes and socks and exhibit no visible tattoos or body piercings, said Jim Cornett III, whose family owns the Roanoke outlet.
The corporation calls them "All-American, surfer, girl-next-door" types. It doesn't mention hooters, but at Monday evening's VIP party, they were a big attraction.
The concept is of every man's fantasy babe in a lively Florida beach joint. You may view it as innocent and fun, or unbearably crude.
After $600,000 worth of improvements, the old pancake house looks great, with lots of polished pine, 15 TVs tuned to ESPN and a jukebox blaring hits from the '50s and '60s.
Over two weeks, Stroup, Dix and others distributed about 30 cards. But most applicants turned up on their own at a trailer parked beneath a welcoming banner in the restaurant's parking lot.
David Dix, the general manager (and Leslie's husband), said more than 330 people had applied for 80 to 100 jobs, which included 60 to 80 spots as Hooters Girls. For the female applicants, one lure was the prospect of big tips.
`Best job I've ever had'
Before Hooters, Dix, 24, from Youngstown, Ohio, worked at Kings Dominion, Bath and Bodyworks, The Limited and as a pharmacy technician. When she applied at Hooters in Richmond a few years ago, she was three months behind on her credit cards, she said. Within a month, she caught up.
Stroup, a 22-year-old graduate of William Fleming High School, worked at The Limited, tanning salons, a cleaning service and several other restaurants.
When she applied at Hooters, she was three months behind on her car payments, she said. A month later, she caught up and spent a week at the beach with the money left over.
Working at Hooters, they said in unison, was "the best job I've ever had."
Jim Cornett Jr. of Culpeper, who is 66, discovered Hooters about five years ago while staying at his condo in Florida. He had owned about 40 Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets, which he sold to Pepsi. He decided to make Hooters his family's next venture. The Roanoke store is his company's sixth.
"Everything is a big show for us, and this is our stage," said Leslie Dix. "The uniforms are our costumes."
When the girls put on their outfits, said Jim Cornett III, absurdly, "They're characters, like Disney characters."
Uh-huh. But the male customers play Goofy.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB