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Hooters set to open in downtown Mtl - fight misogyny!
June 22, 2016 - 9:04pm
I'm really to old to lob the requisite brick in the window of this misogynist enterprise, but we have to fight this shit:
http://montreal.eater.com/2016/6/22/11999786/hooters-crescent-downtown-m...
Death to misogyny!
I was wondering where in downtown Montreal... then I followed the link - Crescent Street, all is explained.
[ETA: whoops, I was mistaken, thought this was in the Quebec forum, apologies for the placement of my flippant remark]
Don't be; we have to fight those creeps with humour too.
Crescent is known as a place for sleazy but expensive bars of the type that attract Grand Prix enthusiasts. It is in the western part of the city centre.
I tend to put subjects about sexism, racism or homophobia in those topic fora, as they aren't confined to any particular place.
Personally,I have no problem with it. The employees know the franchise and are consenting to work there.
Montréal also has male strip joints. I wouldn't call them any way differently from a restauant with employees in tight T-shirts.
Since no one is being forced to work or do business with them, big deal over nothing.
We have much bigger and more important things to put our energy into. I'm more outraged with the fact that our homeless problem is neglected and ignored. Not for someone who serves me a meal wearing a tight T-shirt.
The problem I have is two-fold.
First, regardless of how one feels about objectification, why would anyone go to a restaurant for that when they could just go to one of the many strip clubs which are open. The name and everything about them is like some creepy bad joke shop gag. It boggles my mind that they are even in business.
The fact that they market to kids though? Despicable, and worth protesting.
There has been a recent resurgence in the movement against sexist, humiliating and discriminatory dress codes in the hospitality industry, and indeed this is a restaurant that purports to cater to the general public, including families, and hence teaches children that women are sex objects. It is quite different in its normalizaiton of exploitation than the outright sex industry.
There is NO contradiction between fighting sexism and fighting poverty and homelessness. Ask Manon Massé.
After the last 2 comments,being a supposed 'family' restaurant,it is worth protesting.
The thread reminded me of an old restaurant in VSP that went topless. It existed for a little bit then quickly disappeared. I think the building is run by a flourist now.
In the case of the topless restaurant,it was not promoted as a 'family' establishment. With that,I had no problem with its existance. Same would apply to Hooter's if it was geared exclusively to adults.
I think Hooters is a victim of their own marketing and brand.
When they first started, they were equal parts "jiggle factor" and "giggle factor", but once the joke grew stale, and once they realized that families eat out more than groups of golf buddies do, it's not shocking to me that they'd try to court families.
But if they ditch the tank tops and change their name to TGI Saturday's then they're just another "who cares" strip mall chain restaurant serving microwaved potato skins.
Yes, because at first it was a lads' night out place, but there are many others now, and some actually have decent food (I can think of places like that in Montréal, but they are expensive and run by the Mob). There is also a former topless restaurant deep in the east end of Mtl, (Mercier, east of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve) that is now a normal restaurant with - evidently very good - Portuguese grilled chicken and related dishes". The topless and nude restaurants of East End Montreal - run by biker gangs - had a reputation not only for shitty food but for sad-looking ladies of a certain age, and were utterly disipiriting even to the bros.
Indeed, and I have no doubt that Hooter's legal types are pondering what it's going to mean for them.
If they want to stay in business, here's all they'd really need to do:
1. Hire some male servers too
2. Uniform for everyone: pants and a Hooter's golf shirt that fits comfortably
3. Make the owl the new mascot -- and call him "Hooter" if they'd like to retain the name "Hooter's"
4. Serve either good food, inexpensive food, or both
Well there is Tallywackers. But as with hooters, one bad joke is hardly a marketing plan.
And promptly sued by Couche Tard
As an Ontarian, I'm surprised they never sued Mac's Milk. ;)
For the record,I believe Couche Tard owns Mac's. Not sure but wouldn't be surprised..Couche Tard owns A LOT of outlets all over the globe with different names. Couche Tard is a multi-billion dollar,multi-national company. They're not mom and pop.
I think there's three Hooters in Toronto. One by the airport, and another near Adelaide and John. These both seem specifically for tourists. I don't think there's a huge amount of locals who frequent them. The other is in Etobicoke, which, admittedly, may serve locals. I think too there is one already in Montreal some where, though I'm not very familiar with Montreal. Perhaps it's one that's in Montreal's equivalent of Etobicoke. This recent effort to open another in the downtown strikes me as an effort to appeal to tourists (primarily American guys looking for something fun and familiar -- and perhaps couples too -- IE, something both familiar, silly, and just a little cheekily naughty*). But, I'm not a marketing specialist by any means, so I'm just guessing (and very likely wrongly guessing).
*I'm speaking here of a false perception. It's a misogynist enterprise that exploits women, forcing an uncomfortable dresscode upon its women servers.
I'm so bloody sick and tired of the fetishization of women's breasts. Hooters is just one example in a society that objectifies women constantly. Really, it's exhausting and disheartening.
There is one in Greenfield Park, a south-shore suburb, now part of the city of Longueuil, which as its name indicates was once primarily anglophone. As for Couche-Tard, like the Péladeau empire it is viciously anti-union and has closed all the dépanneurs where the employees organized. They also own convenience stores in other countries.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimentation_Couche-Tard with extensive account of organizing drives and the company's union busting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimentation_Couche-Tard The English wiki version displays outright censorship of the unionization section, replacing it with a corporate blurb. I see I have some wikipedian (unpaid) work on my plate!
I don't remember any specific sexism alleged by the workers - Couche-Tard treated every one like shit; I think I do recall incidences of racism against workers of colour... As for Mom and Pop, they were also very severe and unfair to their franchisees. There is a superette near my place that is now an Extra! - a banner of Métro. When it opened, it was a Provi-soir (another Couche-tard banner) and they really gouged the people managing the place - a Lebanese family. Fortunately the latter were able to escape the clutches of Couche-Tard and round out their business to meet customer demands and not have to charge uncompetitive prices dictated by the mother corp. Metro is far from perfect, but it isn't a corporate bandit on the scale of Couche-Tard.
Geez, I had to check and see where they are located, because the first one I have seen in probably several decades was in Australia.
In western Canada there are two in Winnipeg (and I think they must be new, because I don't recall them being there when I lived there) and one in Edmonton.
Maybe this is part of some expansion.
They tried to make a go in Calgary, but apparently failed:
http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2015/03/25/hooters-closing-both-cal...
And they closed down in Vancouver a decade ago:
http://www.straight.com/blogra/wheres-bcs-appetite-hooters
I wasn't defending Couche-Tard...I think I was implying what you said about them when I labeled them multi-national. They also eat up mom and pop businesses which in no way can be compared.
Couche-Tard,like McDonald's and WalMart,deserve no quarter and should be paying their employees a liveable wage. They can afford it. My advice to all workers of McDonald's,WalMart and Couche-Tard is to unionize. Call their bluff. They're not going to close down all their businesses.
I only do business with neighbourhood dépanneurs.
I cannot and would not defend a slave wage multi-national corporation. I think I was clear in my original comment.
I'm pretty sure there's been a polo park (winnipeg) location for decades. Suprised they're still around.
Since when? I left in 99.
Checked. Yup, they are near polo park on St. Matthews.
Alan, I wasn't attacking you; I was agreeing with you.
Sorry.
They definitely do... I was being silly.
Must have been a buy-out and rebranding at some point though, because when I was a kid, Mac's logo was a cat in a tam-o'-shanter.
I've been to Hooters a total of 3 times; each and every time the food was sub par. I would say down right shitty. I get that the initial stichk of the place was women with big breasts but the majority of servers I seen when I was there had smaller breasts. It was just a shitty restraunt with shitty food whos servers had shitty uniforms. Server however were super nice to chat with.
If you want to smash bricks through windows I suggest Moxies bar and grill. They market themselves as a modeling agency and hire based on looks.