In the early ‘80s, longtime friends and Clearwater businessmen—DiGiannantonio, a liquor salesman, Droste, a real estate executive, Johnson, a brick mason by trade, as well as L.D. Stewart, a painting contractor, Ken Wimmer, a partner in a painting business, and “Uncle Billy” Ranieri, a retired service station owner—had a running joke that they should start a restaurant that “they couldn’t get kicked out of.” They say it was all kidding around until their corporate registration for Hooters came back—on April Fool’s Day 1983. With that propitious sign from the universe, the entrepreneurs—then in their early 30s—decided they had to follow through, even though no one had restaurant experience.

I have only been to Hooters a few times. It was fun. Good luck to these dudes.

For Hooters’ Original Founders, Saving The Chain Is A Higher Calling: “America Needs Us.”
A group of Florida friends thought it would be fun to open a restaurant in the 1980s that “they couldn’t get kicked out of.” Now in their 70s, they’re buying back franchises with a plan to restore the brand—from the signature wings to the orange shorts—to its cheeky glory.
ForbesChloe Sorvino