A new restaurant has opened its doors in South Anchorage. And the newest location in the national Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery chain is also opening eyes. The Old Seward restaurant, the chain's 100th location, is just one of a ballooning number of so-called "breastaurants": eateries that offer a growing variety of food, cold beer, and scantily-clad servers.
Think Hooters, but with bigger menus, better venues, and more television screens.
Its owners and staff agree that one of the main draws is the women: servers and bartenders who sport very short kilt-styled skirts, bare midriffs, and tartan-patterned push-up bras. But they claim that the restaurant's atmosphere, food quality, and friendliness will be more important in the business' success or failure.
And the stakes are high. There is fierce competition brewing among chains in the niche industry. Hooters, the largest of the "breastaurant" chains, has seen profits and sales decline over the last three years. (Its Anchorage location closed in 2008.) But the top restaurants among newer chains like Tilted Kilt, Twin Peaks, CANZaciti Roadhouse and Bone Daddy's have seen annual growth of 30 percent in recent years, according to the restaurant research group Technomic.
It's a trend that has now come to Anchorage.
"As much as I hate the word 'breastaurant,' it is an obvious factor," said Anchorage Tilted Kilt co-owner Liana Keller. "But the girls can only take our guests so far: They can bring them in, but it is the great food and atmosphere that keeps them coming back."
The Anchorage location, between Dowling Road and Dimond Boulevard on the Old Seward Highway, is the largest in the Tilted Kilt chain at more than 11,000 square feet. Fashioned from the remnants of the now-defunct Henry's restaurant, the pub features expansive seating, gleaming glass and wood, and more than 60 high-definition televisions -- even the bathrooms sport large HDTVs. There are 36 beers are on tap, including about a dozen Alaska offerings. The menu is more expansive than most sports pubs and features Celtic-themed dishes like shepherd's pie and Irish stew, as well as the standard pub fare of chicken wings and nachos.
The Tilted Kilt motto: "A cold beer never looked so good."
Hiring entertainers, not servers
To get a job as a Tilted Kilt Girl (there are a few men working as servers, bartenders, cooks and busers) the first requirement is that you fit into the restaurant chain's costume. And it is a tight fit, for even the most in-shape people. The chain has faced national criticism of sexualizing its staff and complaints that it discriminates against people who do not fit into the chain's idea of ideal. But body type is not currently a protected class of employment discrimination. And Tilted Kilt said it hires entertainers, not servers.
"There is a certain look. We call it the Tilted Kilt Girl Look," Keller said. "She has to be a certain standard. It's kind of like Disney. Disney wouldn't hire a Mickey Mouse that was 6 feet tall or a Cinderella that doesn't fit the costume."
Keller said that looks are only one factor in deciding whether to hire someone at the Tilted Kilt. And she claims that appearance isn't the most important quality she looks for in a new hire.
"We want them to be interesting and exciting," Keller said. "We want them to have different interests outside of work."
Keller said many of her staff are working at her restaurant as a second job. Among the many college students employed there, she said, there's also one server who is a lawyer and another who's a banker. Amanda Norberg, 24, has a day job making stormwater pollution protection plans but says her job at Tilted Kilt is worth the drive in each day from Wasilla.
"I loved that it felt like home. It wasn't just like another restaurant," Norberg said. "I would rather drive into Anchorage than work somewhere I don't like."
Keller insists she wants everyone who works at her restaurant to be able to interact with its customers. Tilted Kilt servers said they work hard to make customers feel like they are a part of a bigger community.
"It's like a family," said Tia Price, 23, a corporate trainer from Oklahoma, who is in Anchorage to help open up the new location. "We get to know you. By the time someone leaves my table I know a lot about them. We are not just going to talk to you, we are going to sit down and build relationships."
Not just attracting men
On a Thursday afternoon, among televisions showing almost every sport imaginable -- bass fishing, drag racing, NASCAR, football, soccer, baseball, boat racing -- several tables of women and even some families with children dotted the restaurant.
Co-owner Michael Keller said 35 percent of Tilted Kilt's clientele are women. He hopes to increase that demographic at the Anchorage pub.
"I hope that after we have been opened a while we get past that initial stigma of the 'breastaurant,' and I hope that people come out and see what we are all about, the service you are going to get, the good food. We are a PG-13 restaurant. We are sexy, but very classy as well," Keller said.
Cari Makanani Villarreal Leyva, 30, is an entertainer/server at the restaurant. She owns her own photography, graphic arts and makeup studio, and said her family isn't upset she goes to work in the Tilted Kilt costume.
"My mom is coming in with my aunt the day after tomorrow," Leyva said. "It's a place about community. It's not just about having fun. It's about everyone coming in and having a good time. You feel welcomed and a part of the group. Everyone can come in and feel comfortable and feel loved."
Food over form
As Hooters has found out, keeping the business model from going stale is key to sustaining growth. The newer chains are now nipping at the heels of the "breastaurant" giant. But Tilted Kilt employees said they believe their concept will be a lasting and successful one.
"We are not worried about Hooters," said kitchen trainer James Heyl. "We have learned from their mistakes." Heyl was elevated to his current position -- traveling around the company and training staff at new restaurants -- after impressing Tilted Kilt CEO Ron Lynch during an episode of "Undercover Boss." Lynch also gave Heyl $20,000 for his four children's college education fund and funded an all-expenses-paid vacation for Heyl's entire family.
Heyl said the chain's food will be the deciding factor in whether the restaurant succeeds. And he believes the Anchorage restaurant will be among the most profitable and successful in the entire chain.
Cold beer, numerous televisions for sports watching, and attractive women in little outfits are all draws for the Tilted Kilt's customers. But many employees say their attitude is what will make a lasting mark on the pub's customers.
"When you go through training, they say that the most important part of your outfit, your costume, is your smile because nobody wants to be served by a person, regardless of whether they are attractive or not, if they have an attitude problem," Leyva said. "I don't care what you look like; if you come to me with a smile, I am going to like you."