Lubbock’s Hooters Location Has Flown The Coop!
I guess this will be both a eulogy and a cautionary tale.
What Happened
Hooters, which had become a Lubbock landmark has posted a notice that they are closed permanently. I don't know why anybody didn't see this coming, because they seemed content to try to live off their glory years rather than keeping the brand current and alive. I may be off-base here because there are still over over 400 locations worldwide, but I feel like they were forgotten about in Lubbock.
When They Ruled
I searched my mind for the last time I had food from Hooters, and it was when I worked afternoons. Some of you don't even remember me working afternoons, because that was three morning shows ago. If you're new here, it's somewhere around 10 to 15 years ago. Here's the rub, I loved Hooters food. I don't know what their business plan was, but there are a couple of things I'd blame the closure on.
Failure To Promote
When Hooters opened and through many years of operation, there were always fun things happening at Hooters. We hosted a few glorious years of football and basketball over there. We had charity car/bike washes there and the Hooters girls made appearances at various events. Hooters was a positive presence and a valued member of the community.
Failure To Innovate
Hooters just seems like a 90s thing, mostly because they made little to no attempt to update their image and stores. They seemed to be a remnant of another era and they let other businesses come in a steal their market share. Once upon a time there were very few places other than Hooters to even get wings, and they let other places squeeze them out of the market. If Hooters ever released a new sandwich, or new menu, or something like "Wing Weekends" they certainly didn't do a good job of telling anyone about it.
Failure To Advertise
Promotion and advertising are almost the same thing, or they at least they ofter achieve the same results. The key is, that you usually want to do a promotion, and then advertise it so people will know about it. Promotion and advertising work hand in hand. Who do you hear promoting delicious wings on the radio/TV./internet? For me, if someone said, "Let's go get wings", the first two places I would think of are Twin Peaks and Wing Shack. That's not just out of loyalty to my clients, it's also due to the fact that I hadn't heard anything good or bad about Hooters in a decade, so why chance it?
R.I.P. Hooters
We are sorry for the employees both past and in the recent present. We know some of you put your heart and soul into this place and it came up a little short. We hope you find a new home that loves you as much as you love it (One employee online said that she found a new job less than two hours after the staff was let go). As for the rest of you big wing places, if it can happen to Hooters, it can happen to you.
Update: Other Hooters locations were also closed on this date, so many of these problems were not "Lubbock-Specific".
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