Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurant franchise |
| Founded | Austin, Texas, United States (2006) |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas, United States |
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Area served
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United States |
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Key people
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Doug Guller |
| Services | Food and beverage |
| Parent | ATX Brands |
| Website | Official website |
Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill is a chain of sports bars and restaurants located in Texas. The restaurant chain is known for its scantily-clad waitresses, called "Bikini Babes", whose uniforms consist of its eponymous bikini tops, cowboy boots, and tight denim shorts. The chain is also known for trademarking the term "breastaurant" (a common term for this and similar restaurants) and purchasing a ghost town that was subsequently renamed "Bikinis, Texas".
Restaurant founder Doug Guller reports having gotten the idea for Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill in 2001 on an Australian vacation after being offered a beer by an attractive waitress while watching rugby. Guller theorized that a combination of sports, beer and sex appeal would be particularly recession-proof. The first restaurant was opened in Austin in 2006, and a total of 14 locations have subsequently opened, 13 of which are now closed. Most of the locations were in the Interstate 35 corridor in Texas (San Antonio).
The CBS TV show Undercover Boss featured Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill, airing on December 28, 2014. The show featured the on-air firing of a bartender who refused to wear a bikini in front of cameras, overserved a patron, and was not enthusiastic about her job. A waitress with a good attitude was rewarded with a breast augmentation. These scenes provoked controversy on social media, especially on the Bikinis Facebook pages and on Twitter. The Facebook pages were taken offline temporarily and the negative comments were deleted, while non-social media sites have retained the negative comments. Guller and ATX Brands personnel had their own view while those loyal to ATX Brands have had mixed reactions. The airing affected the future of Bikinis such that its nine existing locations faced uncertainty as to whether the restaurant chain would stay in business.
Since May 2015, the Bikinis located in the DFW Metroplex, which have been featured on Undercover Boss, are in the process of being rebranded by ATX Brands as Gino's East Pizzerias. This will make DFW the second populated MSA in Texas (besides Houston and San Antonio) to lose their existing Bikinis restaurants. ATX Brands will continue to retain the first two Bikinis located in Austin. DFW locations (Arlington, Richardson) have been shuttered since February 11, 2015, with the Mesquite location following suit after April 15, 2015. As of December 2015, just one Bikinis located in Austin, TX (located in Downtown Austin on Sixth Street) is still in operation, making it the final vestige of a restaurant chain facing extinction. The flagship location closed its doors December 20, 2015.
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Wikipedia