Six Clearwater businessmen incorporated Hooters in 1983.
The six were Lynn D. Stewart, Gil DiGiannantonio, Ed Droste, Billy Ranieri, Ken Wimmer and Dennis Johnson. Hooters, Inc. was incorporated in Clearwater, Florida, on April 1, 1983—April Fools’ Day—because the founders initially treated the venture as a likely failure.
The first restaurant occupied the site of a rundown former nightclub. The group even placed a small graveyard near the entrance, with tombstones representing businesses that had previously failed at the location. Despite the joke-like beginning, the restaurant opened successfully in Clearwater on October 4, 1983.
The original six founders are sometimes confused with later owners and corporate operators. In December 1984, Hugh Connerty acquired the rights to Hooters, and Robert H. Brooks and Atlanta investors later became associated with Hooters of America. Those later business developments did not change the number of men who incorporated the original Clearwater company.
The April 1 incorporation date and the six-person founding group are therefore separate from the October opening date.