CROWDS FILL NEW HOOTERS IN RP: SPORTS BAR WITH FAMOUSLY SKIMPILY CLAD WAITRESSES GETS WARM INITIAL RECEPTION

A franchise built on sex appeal, sports and chicken wings made its debut Monday in Sonoma County when a Hooters restaurant -- the Bay Area's fifth -- opened in Rohnert Park.

"It's a man-cave," said Bill Koenig, 72, who drove from Rio Nido and was the first customer in the door.

"It kind of brings an old man back to high school," said Koenig, who wore a black Hooters baseball cap from Hollywood.

At another table, Matt Burns, 21, a Sonoma State University senior, said, "It's just a good sports bar to go to. There aren't too many around here."

At the same table, Kacey, a SSU senior who declined to give her last name, said the Redwood Drive restaurant had a distinct flavor.

"A lot of T and A," she said, describing the scene with a euphemism for two parts of the female anatomy.

She said she was unlikely to become a regular customer, but was there to support friends who had just been hired at the restaurant, part of an international chain that draws fire for what critics say is a strategy of profiting by treating women as objects.

It employs only women as servers and outfits them in what might be termed lightweight, summer carwash attire. Both men and women are hired for kitchen and support positions such as busboys.

Courts have upheld the company's right to employ only women in what are known as front-of-the-house jobs. And the company, which bills itself as "delightfully tacky yet unrefined," is frank about its brand.

"The element of female sex appeal is prevalent in the restaurants, and the company believes the Hooters Girl is as socially acceptable as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader," the chain's website says.

On Monday, perhaps two dozen servers, wearing bright orange short-shorts, tight white T-shirts and tanktops, and big smiles, attended to a crowd that filled the restaurant and bar by 11 a.m.

"It's entertainment. It's not like I'm walking around naked," said Crystal Chase, 19, of Forestville, who expects to make much more at Hooters than at her last job, in a tanning salon.

She was among about 100 employees, many from SSU, hired out of about 1,100 applicants, said Doug Cappy, vice president of the Bay Area portion of the Hooters chain.

"We want to be known as the premier sports bar in the area," he said, dismissing, with a practiced manner, the existence of complaints about the company's marketing angle.

"There's girls walking the halls in high schools that wear less than the girls at Hooters," he said. He added that in the run-up to the opening, "We didn't get any flak at all."

Not long after the restaurant opened at 10 a.m., the bar was full and Jessica Butturini was busy.

One of several bartenders, she is also minoring in women and gender studies at SSU. Before taking the job, Butturini thought hard about it and spoke to friends and other co-workers, she said.

"I think being OK with myself, I'm OK with it," Butturini said about a business approach that focuses, in part, on highlighting women's bodies.

"It's the other people that aren't OK with themselves that aren't," she said.

The lunch crowd was mixed. A majority were men, but there was a young family here, an elderly couple there, a table of women on a lunch break, and in one booth, a mother and daughter from Petaluma.

The daughter, Caitlyn Thompson, was checking the restaurant out in advance of her first shift, as a hostess, Monday night.

Some people, often her mother's friends, have been less than supportive of her decision to work at the chain.

"I've had it compared to working in a strip club," the 17-year-old said.

The Thompsons, though, are Hooters fans who often visit the restaurants when they are on trips, Cathy Thompson said.

"We've always felt it was a real family restaurant," said Thompson, 45, who was quick to recommend some appetizers.

"I'm proud of her," she said of her daughter, adding that she had a 4.0 grade point average.

"I know how I raised her. I know my daughter and I trust the decisions she makes," she said.

City officials, who have made attracting business to Rohnert Park a priority, have expressed a range of opinion to Hooters.

The store is one of several that have opened in the past six months, including a 24-Hour Fitness, a G&C Autobody and a Goodwill. That shows the city's economy is on the right track, said Councilwoman Gina Belforte.

"I think it's a good sign for Rohnert Park," she said.

But at the same time, she acknowledged, she is unlikely to be sampling the restaurant's fare.

"I don't think I'm a Hooters customer," Belforte said. "It bothers me, I've got a daughter -- but you know, I'm not a hydroponics customer either."

Mayor Jake Mackenzie, who over the weekend posted on his Facebook page a photo taken by his wife of him in the company of some beaming Hooters servers, was unreserved in his welcome.

"The high energy level I saw on Saturday night at their training sessions augurs well for a successful launch of this popular chain bringing in at least 100 new jobs to the area," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay

@pressdemocrat.com.