Ashes to Ashes, Bust to Bust

(Note: I researched and wrote this piece in July 2006, shortly after Brooks passed, for publication in the regular obituary column of LiP magazine. It never got printed, and I just happened to find it on my harddrive today.)

Robert Howell Brooks, head of the Hooters chain of restaurants, died of natural causes at the age of 69.

Brooks, who spent much of his impoverished childhood working in his family’s tobacco fields in South Carolina, was a member of Future Farmers of America, a public agricultural education program for boys (until 1969, when girls were admitted), before studying dairy science at Clemson University. He made his first fortune in Naturally Fresh Foods, Inc., with fast-food milkshake formula and non-dairy creamer for airlines.

Despite his proven familiarity with udder-based products, Brooks claimed to be ignorant of the mammary connotations of the Hooters brand when he took over in 1988. The official Hooters website says of its famous brandmark: “Hooters does have an owl inside its logo and uses an owl theme sufficiently to allow debate to occur over the meaning’s intent. The chain enjoys and benefits from this debate. In the end, we hope Hooters means a great place to eat.”

In deference to his wife Tami, who engages in weekly Bible study with daughter Belle, Brooks did remove Playboy spreads of former Hooters Girls from all the restaurants after taking the helm, which Tami apparently found more objectionable than signs like “Hooters Waitresses are Flattery Operated,” which prevail.

Invariably young and buxom, overwhelmingly white, and minted from a single “All-American Cheerleader” mold, the “Girls” are officially described as “bubbly,” “vivacious,” and “wholesome yet sexy.” At their hiring they sign a policy that asks them to acknowledge that “the Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and that the work environment is one in which joking and innuendo based on female sex appeal is commonplace” and furthermore that they “do not find [their] job duties, uniform requirements or work environment to be offensive, intimidating, hostile or unwelcome.” “Hooters Girls are to be camera-ready at all times,” explains the extensive employee handbook.

Over the years, several cases of sexual harassment by Hooters managers surfaced (sexual harassment by guests being a condition of employment). One “Girl” sued her Panama City Beach, FL employer for being tricked into thinking a contest would win her a Toyota, when what she got was a toy Yoda. But under the steady hand of Brooks, Hooters not only survived these and other challenges (such as the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s investigation regarding discrimination against males in 1995)–indeed, Hooters came out on top.

Part of the community appeal sprang from a PR idea of Brooks’: philanthropy. Hooters Community Endowment Fund has donated over $8 million to charities, including to Red Cross in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Yet, while the company website asserts that “the women’s rights movement is important, because it guarantees women have the right to choose their own careers, be it a Supreme Court Justice or Hooters Girl,” women’s rights groups do not figure prominently among the beneficiaries of HOOCEF.

By all accounts, multimillionaire Bob Brooks worked tirelessly for the wealth he accrued. The small chain grew into a multinational with over 430 locations in 20 countries. Brooks’ related business endeavors include Hooters Magazine; Hooters Casino; and the ill-fated Hooters Air airline. Promoting, commodifying, and normalizing the sexual-objectification of women: It’s hard work.