It’s can-to-can combat! A battle of the boobs has erupted on Long Island between the jiggle-and-grub joint Hooters and a brash challenger named Canz. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
It’s can-to-can combat! A battle of the boobs has erupted on Long Island between the jiggle-and-grub joint Hooters and a brash challenger named Canz. So far, Canz owners — who openly say they want to deflate Hooters’ business — have poached 25 scantily clad waitresses from their rival. A chief strategy, they said, is offering Hooters waitresses better treatment at work. Ex-Hooters gals told The Post they were tired of getting hair-dye plans approved by management, covering up tattoos, and facing probation if they gained weight. “They make us feel uncomfortable with our bodies there,†ex-Hooters babe Carly Adesso, 19, of Ronkonkoma said after defecting to Canz. So far, Canz has set up shop in Hooters territory, opening sites in Westbury, two miles away from the East Meadow Hooters. They’ll soon open a joint in Patchogue, just 10 miles from the Islandia Hooters. “We just realized that no one has ever challenged Hooters,†said Tim Lorito, 32, a Ronkonkoma native and former minor-league baseball player who co-owns the Canz franchise with Matthew Dill, 27. The rivalry has even featured bizarre allegations of corporate espionage. Canz employees claim they’ve caught Hooters staffers surreptitiously recording videos in their restaurants to steal business secrets. “They have people come in here and videotape us†in order to copy waitresses’ mannerisms, said another Hooters defector, Gina Ilczyszyn, 22, of Levittown. Hooters also recently sent a battalion of their girls into the Westbury Canz and had them chat up customers — in an effort to lure them to their East Meadow location. Security guards had to ask them to leave. A businessman who owns Long Island Hooters locations, Buddy DeMarco, did not return a call for comment.
