HOOTERS IS SOMETHING of a strange American institution.

They have 460 locations in 44 US states an 24 other countries and all are based around two components: American bar food and girls in skimpy costumes.

The Hooters brand has become synonymous with using sex to sell.

Since its 1983 beginnings in Clearwater, Florida, the company has not shied away from the fact that its servers are almost all good looking women wearing very little.

Since being sued in 1997, the company has had to employ men, but is not prohibited from using Hooters Girls to attract customers.

The company has had its share of employment tribunals, but what’s it like to work at?

With the company turning 30, Business Insider caught up with some Hooters Girls at the company’s Manhattan outlet.

“If I ever say I work at Hooters, it’s like “oh, you work at Hooters?”" says Christine Rosario.

“I get calls everyday asking how old you have to be to get in here. I’m like “what do you mean how old?” we’re a family restaurant!”

The main thing the girls say is that this is a job. A job that pays very well.

“I have one customer who one Christmas gave me an envelope and there was $700 in it,” says Jasmine Syed, who was one of the company’s models for their famous calendar.

“A morning bar shift can be around $200-$300 a night shift could be $500,” says Rosario.

It’s not all good, though. In fact, waitresses are not supposed to wear their uniforms to work over safety concerns.

“Of course I’ve had to deal with stalkers, every girl here has,” says Rosario.

“Some guys think they can just come in here and touch us and it’s not like that at all. We get a lot of them in the kitchen, actually.”

Many of the girls talk about their aspirations beyond the company, with Kat Cole cited as an example. She worked as a waitress in the Manhattan branch before taking over $1 billion company Cinnabon.

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