Dirty and decadent: Double D burger joint to go head to head with Hooters
Saucy advertisement for Lan Kwai Fong restaurant attracts online ire
Just days after US chain Hooters announced plans to open in Hong Kong, a local restaurant group wants to beat it to the punch, using sex appeal to sell hamburgers.
Maximal Concepts - whose restaurants include steakhouse Blue Butcher, high-end Chinese eatery Mott 32 and Tex-Mex joint Brickhouse - is behind the soon-to-launch Double D hamburger restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong.
But with a huge billboard featuring women clad only in lingerie, and a playful, yet questionable staff recruitment ad, the restaurant's plans are already on the radar of the city's equal opportunities watchdog.
The billboard in front of the new restaurant's Wellington Street premises features near-naked models suggestively holding burgers, and Double D's Facebook page has already attracted a fair amount of debate.
"Is it necessary that you devolve into the objectification of women to sell a cheeseburger? It isn't edgy. It isn't cool. It is overplayed, and so yesterday," said one post by a woman.
"Are you all sexist, chauvinistic pigs? Double D? Really. Change the name," said another.
But there was plenty of support for the venture from women too.
"Wow! Just walked past Double D's. Definitely eye catching! Very cool, crazy and sexy! I think u have nailed the advertising for the LKF market. Super excited about u guys opening!" one woman wrote.
With a tagline "Dirty and Decadent", the brand is making no apologies for its use of double entendres and it is, in fact, a requirement for prospective staff to have a "double sense of humour".
Staff should also be "positive, outgoing, engaging, energetic and fun loving" with a "well rounded knowledge in various aspects of the restaurant" and understand the "dirtiness of our juicy burgers".
The benefits of working at Double D include a five-day working week, career development and training, as well as great staff parties, according to the job ad.
A spokeswoman for the Equal Opportunities Commission said: "The restaurant has not started its operation in Hong Kong. Without details on how it will be operated, it may not be appropriate for the EOC to make comments at this stage or respond to any allegations or complaints.
"However, it is advisable that any business should adopt gender-sensitive policies and respect gender equality."
A spokeswoman for Maximal Concepts said management was not available for comment.
