"I got involved with Hooters in 1983. I was 22, working as a telephone operator and doing bikini contests as a side gig. After winning a contest on Clearwater Beach, the secretary of Ed Droste, one of Hooters' founders, approached me and said I'd be a perfect billboard girl for a restaurant that Ed and his partners were ready to open."
"I thought, "I don't even know what a billboard girl is." Instead, I told her, "Sure, OK." I took his card, went home, and forgot all about it. Two months later, I was driving to another bikini contest, and I saw a construction sign: "Coming soon: Hooters." I made a hard right toward the parking lot, and that turn changed my life."
"I was totally into the idea of being the Hooters Girl, wearing the uniform, and posing for pics. What I wasn't so wowed by was the idea of quitting my job and becoming a waitress, but Ed persuaded me with talk about "world fame," so I figured, why not give it a shot?"
Lynne Austin joined Hooters in 1983 at age 22 after winning a bikini contest and being recruited as a billboard girl. She had been working as a telephone operator and doing contests on the side. A construction sign for a new Hooters prompted her to follow up, which led to her involvement. She initially wanted the publicity and uniform rather than waitressing, but the founders persuaded her with promises of wider fame and she quit her job. Opening delays due to licensing pushed back plans, and early work included basic tasks as the restaurant launched and evolved.
Read at Business Insider
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