Introduction
A restaurant is a place where people go to eat. Unlike a hotel, a restaurant provides only an eating place without boarding. It’s a kind of a place where those who seek to get food while enjoying their beer can pop in to without inconveniencing themselves. Once a customer establishes such a place it’s important that the management of the restaurant do its best to maintain such a customer. It’s important then that those who work in such a place be people whom clients can relate to. Different business enterprises use diverse tactics to maximize on sales. A case in example is Hooters Restaurant that employs only girls in their business. To understand their operation better it’s important to ask ourselves a few questions about them.
Is Hooters’ employee selection critical to the effective implementation of its strategy? Do the job specifications for Hooters restaurant servers have a discriminatory effect against male applicants? Does Hooters management appear to have a bias against males?
To answer these questions better it’s important to ask ourselves what makes up a business entity. Every business employs different tactics to attain its long and short term goal which is to make profits. When Hooters began its operations in 1983 I believe that was what they had in mind; making profits. Though the method they used to reach this goal was criticized by many people and especially the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) I highly think that they were right in the decisions they took. It’s of great importance to learn here that Hooters only employed ladies in areas where employees commonly interact with clients or commonly known as “front of the house” positions. This is the positions of waitresses, bartenders and hostesses.
It’s important also to note that this was a tactic that Hooters was using to net more clients and as we can see it worked wonders.Hooters was expecting a turnover of $300 million in 1996.This being less than 13 years since its inception was a complete success story. It’s wrong to even imagine that Hooters was discriminating against men in its employment policy. The important thing to learn here is that as a business strategy they chose to employ ladies in a certain field. That this was not even in what we would consider to be high class jobs goes ahead to support my point that this was just a business trick to net in more clients. If one of its policies stated that they were not employing men at all then it would have been a cause to worry but positions were open in all other positions to both men and women. This points out clearly that Hooters did not have any bias against men.
As I have stated above, image is everything in business.Hooters decision to hire girls is a part of its business strategy. According to Mike McNeil the vice president for the Atlanta-based Hooter’s of America, Inc. the “Hooter’s Girls” has been like a brand name to them. As I pointed out from the outset there is what draws someone back to a particular place. The Hooter Girls has been what draws customers back to this restaurant with their charm and their sex-appeal. This means that changing the outlook of this restaurant to incorporate men would drive Hooters out of business since there would be nothing to draw customers back to this particular restaurant.
Do you agree with Hooters’ position that female gender is a bona fide occupational qualification for the position of restaurant server? Do recent court decisions support management’s arguments?
Whether I agree with Hooters position on whether female gender is a bona fide occupational qualification for the position of restaurant server is a question about logic. Though I do not think that it’s applicable with all restaurants it’s important to learn that the case with Hooters was different since this is what had kept them going all along. Of late there has been court suits filed against Hooters Restaurant by disgruntled men who feel that Hooters has been discriminating against them. Though none of these cases has come to completion it’s important to look at other similar suits brought against other companies that people felt were discriminating against a particular gender. A good example is the case between Dothard V Rawinson,443 U.S(1977) Supreme Court.The judge ruled that this would be a case of bona fide occupational qualification(BFOQ).This is a case where if the firm wouldn’t employ people of a certain gender then the essence of his or her business would suffer irrevocably. This would be the case if the decision to employ girls by Hooters would be changed.
Conclusion
As I have stated above, a business is defined by what it presents to its customers. Though I do not support those who discriminate against others on the basis of gender, I have to state here that it’s important that we respect other people’s ideas and believes. I believe as everyone else that everyone’s idea of starting a business is to make a profit and different businesses employ different tactics to reach this target. We should all respect this idea if it doesn’t go against the set rules and regulations.