Several Waco residents took offense to the provocative name of soon-to-open Fat Ho Burgers on South 11th Street, including some neighbors of the business.

“We don’t want women referred to as ‘Ho,’ ” read the message on a Facebook group suggesting the owner of the restaurant, Lakita Evans, come up with a different moniker.

The name of a new burger joint on South 11th Street has come under fire by some who say it is derogatory toward women.
Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune-Herald

Tracy Miles, who runs an area child care center, said people should exercise caution saying the word “ho” in conversation because “it’s degrading, depending on the context you use it in. But to name a restaurant something like that is just unacceptable.”

Two women at Kate Ross Apartments in eyeshot of the burger joint’s banner took issue with the name, as well.

“I don’t think I could go there,” Dian Grant said.

“I would have gone with a different name,” Cieta Grant said. “That’s weird.”

Others urged people not to rush to judgment.

County Commissioner Lester Gibson, whose district includes the restaurant, said he was surprised by the name, like most people.

“But I would hate to say something negative about the woman’s place before asking what she meant by ‘ho,’ ” Gibson said. “She might have meant something else by it.”

Evans was waiting for a health inspector Monday and hoping to open her restaurant today.

“It’s not talking about women,” said Evans, who’s 23. “It’s just funny.”

“I’m just providing a place for people to joke around and have a good time.”

Shelley Littleton, a Waco native who now runs a consulting company in Los Angeles, created the Facebook group encouraging Evans to find a new name.

“When I saw it in the paper, I was horrified,” Littleton said. “I support her right to name her restaurant whatever she wants, but she has to live with the consequences.”

Changing the name

Littleton said she would offer Evans consulting help in exchange for a name change.

“If she wants branding help or marketing help, that’s what I do,” she said. “I want her to be successful, and I want women-owned businesses to be the best in the world. This is just not the best in the world.”

Evans said Monday she wasn’t aware of the Facebook group focused on her business’ name but wasn’t going to drop the name.

“They can say what they want,” Evans said. “Everybody in America is a critic.”

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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