November 2014
| Business World
33
“We want our associates and our franchisees
to be passionate about the business and the
concept, and to have a desire to be with peo-
ple,” he says. “This is a people business and
we happen to sell food. Introverts don’t seem
to be successful, or, if you’re an introvert by
nature, you need to have the outgoing sort
of people working with you. If Warren Buf-
fett called me tomorrow, the first question
I’d ask him is ‘Who is going to operate the
restaurant?’ and if he couldn’t give me an an-
swer, I’d ask him to get an operations partner
secured, then we could talk about Hooters.”
In terms of markets, Whittle says, Hooters is
predominantly looking at places with popu-
lations of at least 100,000 or 125,000 with
an upper-middle income base, a high pre-
ponderance of daytime activity and a strong
residential base surrounding the site. In ad-
dition, Hooters prefers sites that are within
close proximity to regional malls, theatres
and/or sports arenas to help drive evening
and late night traffic. Some of the most suc-
cessful Hooters restaurants are located in the
hearts of large downtown areas.
HOOTIE GETS A FACELIFT
"We turned 30 last year so we joked that it
was time Hootie got a facelift," Whittle says.
