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American “breastaurant” chain Hooters has given up on Quebec, abruptly closing its two restaurants in the Montreal area.
The chain, known for chicken wings, televised sports, and objectifying women, closed its doors with no notice, according to the Journal de Montréal. Staff reportedly showed up for work to find the doors locked, and were not given their final pay or four percent vacation pay.
Hooters’ attempt to set up shop in downtown Montreal was relatively short-lived — it opened in spring 2017 on Crescent Street. While one might think this would be perhaps the most appropriate location in town for Hooters, apparently, it never got a solid foothold. It enjoyed a lousy two-star rating on Yelp, and apparently didn’t even match up to the standards of other Hooters (let alone rising to the level of “good restaurant”), as the following reviews indicate (to be read in a dramatic voice).
“Deeply saddens me to write this 1 star review, as I love Hooters!...When my wings arrived, they were warm, not hot....The fries were cold. This is not the experience I expect from a Hooters.” -Chris J.
This place is a piss poor excuse of a Hooters. The only thing that is Hooters is the sign. I go to Hooters everywhere I travel and when I went they didn’t have anything on the menu except a hamburger, chicken sandwich and “boneless wings” (Chicken paddy [sic] diced up). -Mike P.
Hooters also had a South Shore location in Greenfield Park, that fared better — it was opened in 2007 until its shutter last week, with advertisements imploring would-be customers to “venez vous bourrez la face” on all-you-can-eat wings apparently not saving the restaurant.
Hooters is still active in the rest of Canada (although on a pretty small scale) — it has about six restaurants, mostly near Toronto, with a couple more in Winnipeg and Edmonton.