Hooters CEO reveals most customers were served the wrong wing sauce for 20 years

Hooters CEO says many locations served 'substitute sauce' for wings, not the real recipe Hooters Inc. CEO Neil Kiefer reveals how many acquired locations operated without the signature wing sauce formula for decades, detailing steps leadership is taking to reestablish consistency, involvement and credibility with guests across markets. As Hooters emerges from bankruptcy under new leadership, the restaurant chain's CEO says the company's future depends on something deceptively simple: returning the brand to its roots. That starts with the food. Neil Kiefer, CEO of the Florida-based Hooters founding group that, along with another franchisee, reclaimed control of the brand from the private equity-backed Hooters of America, told Fox News Digital that many customers haven't seen the real menu in decades. HOOTERS REVAMPS MENU, UPDATES UNIFORM AS ORIGINAL OWNERS TAKE OVER "I can tell you, of those 110 stores we've taken over, [those locations] haven't had the original sauce on them in 20 years," he said. The company had to clear out inherited inventory "that didn't meet our specifications" before restoring recipes to their original "taste profiles," Kiefer said. Chicken wings are a popular menu choice at Hooters, but the CEO told Fox News Digital in an interview that many locations "haven't had the original sauce on them in 20 years." (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital) Kiefer called the original Hooters sauce "a craveable sauce" that was lacking in certain locations from El Paso, Texas, to Fairfax, Virginia. "They had a substitute sauce, which was not the real sauce," Kiefer said. "It's the craveable thing that makes our food so good." HISTORY OF HOOTERS: 5 FACTS YOU LIKELY NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE RESTAURANT CHAIN To ensure consistency, Hooters has formed a new food task committee - now involving franchisees who previously had no say in menu decisions, Kiefer said. "We're all running the same stores," Kiefer said, describing a system of mandatory, optional and regional menu items designed to rebuild uniformity across markets. Hooters has formed a new food task committee to help establish continuity with the menu. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital) The brand's "re-Hooterization," as Kiefer calls it, also includes reversing what he described as years of missteps in tone and presentation. Some of the stores Hooters recently reacquired had strayed into what he bluntly calls "little boys' club stores," where the dining experience veered too far toward sexualization. HOOTERS PLANS TO MAKE ICONIC ORANGE SHORTS LESS REVEALING AS PART OF BRAND REBIRTH Uniforms were a flash point. Hooters of America introduced skimpier shorts that prompted backlash from employees, Kiefer said. "They really weren't given a choice," Kiefer said of Hooters servers. He said they were "embarrassed" to wear the uniform. The new leadership has swapped them for an "athletic look" modeled after the brand's original dolphin shorts, which Kiefer said are "sporty in nature." But he insisted Hooters isn't abandoning its identity. HOOTERS DITCHING BIKINI NIGHTS FOR OVER-60 CROWD AND FAMILIES "Being an attractive woman - there's nothing wrong with it," Kiefer said. Although in-restaurant bikini contests are a thing...

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