Hooters Reveals New Calendar for 2023, Celebrates 40 Years in Business One dollar of every Hooters Calendar sold supports breast cancer research.
By Entrepreneur Staff Edited by Jessica Thomas
They don't look a day over 25.
Hooters is turning 40 next year, and the celebration has already begun with the launch of the new 2023 Hooters Calendar.
Now available at all Hooters locations, the calendar features 200 women who work at Hooters restaurants across the country. The employees featured were selected out of thousands of contenders.
This year's cover star is 2023 Hooters Calendar rookie Karter Higgins from Humble, Texas. Higgins, a political science major at the University of Houston, plans to attend law school after graduation.
"I was speechless when I found out I made the cover," Higgins said in a statement. "I am so grateful and honored to be the cover girl during its 40th anniversary year."
For every Hooters Calendar sold, $1 supports the Kelly Jo Dowd Breast Cancer Research Fund as part of the "Give a Hoot" fundraising efforts in October. Dowd, an original Hooters girl and 1995 Hooters Calendar cover girl, succumbed to breast cancer in 2007. To date, the calendar has raised more than $1 million.
Raising money for breast cancer research is close to Higgins's heart.
"Supporting and giving back to breast cancer research is a huge part of my life," she said. "My grandma is currently fighting her second round of breast cancer."
The 2023 calendar centerfold is 2022 Miss Hooters International, Madison Novo from Hialeah, Florida. For Novo, it's all in the family.
"Growing up, Hooters has been the center of my world, especially the Hooters Calendar," Novo said in a statement. "My sister was a six-time Hooters calendar girl and the calendar tour was always something my family looked forward to. [This] has inspired me to continue my career in the modeling and fashion industry."
For other Hooters employees, making the calendar is a long time coming.
Lindsay Lynch from Merrillville, Indiana, has been with Hooters for nine years, but this is the first time the new "Miss December" will be a feature month in the calendar.
"My first three years I did not make the calendar," Lynch said. "I made a bucket list and every year it was my goal to be featured in the calendar. The effort I put in was noticed. I want to show that if you don't give up and keep trying it will happen, be patient."
The first Hooters Calendar was released in the fall of 1985, just two years after the original Hooters location first opened in Clearwater, Florida.
In a statement, Chuck Melcher, owner and publisher of the Hooters Calendar, said: "We are proud of the history and tradition of the Hooters Calendar as it continues to be one of America's top-selling calendars and is a cornerstone of the Hooters brand."
