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Bros and chicken wing lovers rejoice: Hooters is about to land on the bar-laden Crescent street strip in downtown Montreal. The new outpost of the iconic, and infamous, U.S. chain that features female serves, known as 'Hooter Girls', in skimpy outfits, will be the second for the city. Hooters Greenfield Park, the first Hooters in Canada, opened in 2007 in the South Shore. While Asia, and specifically Southeast Asia, has been targeted as a prime area of growth for Hooters, downtown Montreal was marked as a place of interest some time ago by franchise owners Shah Mohammad Naziri and Neil Steffensen. The duo registered a Hooters business at 1433 Crescent, in the former Club Entourage, back in December 2014. Naziri owns the South Shore Hooters as well — the businessman purchased it from original owner Sam Meghani, who had big plans for the chain in the province. Meghani told the Montreal Gazette in 2007 that the "next two [Hooters restaurants] will be on the West Island and Laval — we're not sure which one will be first — then a fourth downtown."
The South Shore Hooters is still the only outpost of the chain in Quebec, but that's about to change. A company involved with the Crescent street build tells Eater that the downtown Hooters is still under construction, but on schedule. The operators of the new Hooters will have to be careful not to run afoul of the police department's morality squad; the Greenfield Park Hooters was cited multiple times for serving alcohol without food, and staging unauthorized bikini contests. The Gazette reported at the time that Ahmad Tamin, the restaurant's manager, "testified only waitresses from the restaurant participated in the contest, which is held once a year and is part of the 'concept' of the U.S.-based Hooters chain." This all happened with Meghani as owner; Naziri subsequently told the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux that things had changed under his watch. Eater has contacted Naziri for comment on the new Hooters downtown — stay tuned for developments.
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