Some of the waitresses from Hooters’ Singapore branch
If you are not familiar with US breastaurant (no, we did not make up that ridiculous term, but we’re using it) chain Hooters from its 415 outlets in the United States and other countries (including branches in Singapore and Thailand), you can comfort yourself with the fact that you may get a chance to get up close and personal with some of the restaurant’s famous… chicken wings in the near future.
In a press release quoted by the Atlanta Business Journal, the Atlanta-based chain said it was working with international franchisee Destination Resorts (which brought Hooters to Phuket, Thailand, in 2014) to continue to expand Hooters throughout Southeast Asia. They have plans to open 30 more locations in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau and yes, Indonesia.
“The moment the doors opened to Hooters Phuket we realized the tremendous opportunity to greatly broaden our efforts to develop the Hooters brand across Asia,” said Gary Murray, CEO of Destination Resorts, in the statement.
The plan to bring Hooters to Malaysia has already been met with stiff opposition, as shown in this article in the Malay Mail article titled “Evil’ Hooters out to milk Malaysian culture, Muslim groups claim” (a title we’ll forgive them for, since apparently they weren’t allowed to publish any photos of the actual waitresses).
“This is a step that can bring chaos to the country’s harmony. It is meant to create a continuous clash,” Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman, president of Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), told the Malay Mail. “I believe there is an evil hand behind the move. They are deliberately trying to stir anger,”
We’re guessing that Hooters will try to sidestep such problems in Indonesia by opening branches in Bali, where Bintang-singleted bogans will no doubt be the target market. At any rate, we hope Hooters can bring the same kind of cheer to Indonesia that it did to Thai orphans last Christmas.
