Provocatively named burger joint to open soon
By Michael W. Shapiro
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The banner above a soon-to-open Waco burger joint sports an attention-grabbing name that made civic and business leaders do a double-take.
The owner of Fat Ho Burgers, Lakita Evans, said the name has so far produced laughter, not anger, from passers-by of the restaurant at the corner of South 11th Street and Ross Avenue.
“It’s making people smile,” said Evans, who was preparing the restaurant Thursday for its opening next week. “This world is too serious.”
Fat Ho Burgers, on South 11th Street, is slated to open Monday.
Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune-Herald
Evans said the name was inspired by a California restaurant called Fat Ass Burgers.
“Oh, jeez,” said Waco City Manager Larry Groth, upon first hearing the restaurant’s name.
“I guess they’ll find out whether the community supports them soon,” he said, before adding the test “may be in how good the burgers are.”
Chris McGowan, director of urban development at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, said he was pleased to learn a restaurant was opening at the South 11th Street location.
But “I don’t have any judgment based on the name,” McGowan said. “I hope they make a good product and are successful.”
Evans said she didn’t view the name as especially controversial and pointed to a another restaurant in Waco that pushes the envelope with its name.
“It’s not too provocative,” she said. “Come on. We’ve got Hooters already.”
About 60 ministers signed a letter in 2005 as Hooters was preparing to open a restaurant in Waco, saying the chain — known for chicken wings and waitresses in tight T-shirts — “does not represent the values that our community should espouse.”
Provocative names
Kirk Wakefield, a professor in Baylor University’s marketing department and a former restaurant manager, said there’s an upside and a downside with provocative brand names.
“You’re immediately cutting off a segment of people who say, ‘I’ll never go in there because of that,’ ” Wakefield said.
On the other hand, he said, “If you’re trying to draw attention, it might create some word of mouth.”
Lakita Evans, owner of the soon-to-open Fat Ho Burgers at the corner of South 11th Street and Ross Avenue, wipes down a table Thursday.
Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune-Herald
According to Wakefield, Evans may have calculated that the people most likely to object to the name wouldn’t have eaten at her restaurant in the first place.
The property is located along the 11th/12th Street corridor, which connects Baylor University and downtown. It sits next to the Kate Ross Apartments, a public housing project, and across the street from Overcomers in Praise Temple of God.
The building was previously home to a Mexican restaurant.
Generating buzz
“I got an e-mail about (the restaurant) this morning from a friend of mine who’s an attorney who had gotten it forwarded to him, so there’s definitely some buzz,” said Perry Weaver, a co-owner of Dubl-R Burgers in North Waco.
“I personally think the name’s hysterical, but the question is who might be offended by it.”
mshapiro@wacotrib.com
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