Happy to see chicken wings fly out the door of its quick-service restaurant in Cicero, Hooters is expanding its pared-down Hoots concept and opening two Chicago outposts this summer, with more coming by the end of next year.

The takeout-focused Hoots stores, one planned for Logan Square and another for the South Loop, are expected to open in August with less than half the menu of standard Hooters—and none of the female servers clad in orange short shorts or low-cut tanks.

They’re designed to appeal to families, millennials and those pressed for time. The Hoots expansion comes at a time when the Hooters chain, owned by Atlanta-based Hooters of America, has seen a slight decrease in the percentage of customers who visit at least once a month, according to Technomic, which studies restaurant trends.

Guests order at the counter, and servers—men and women in khakis and crew T-shirts—hand over to-go bags at the register or bring the food to dining tables or the bar, where customers can gaze at TV screens.

Hooters Management, the Clearwater, Fla.-based group that operates Hooters restaurants in the Chicago and Tampa Bay areas and in Manhattan, launched Hoots in a Cicero strip mall in February 2017 and saw to-go orders account for 70 percent of the business, including 40 percent takeout and about 30 percent delivery, said Will LeBas, Hoots director of development and operations. It had expected the concept to do about 30 percent of its business in takeout.

Hoots initially took the top 20 most popular to-go items from the Hooters menu. There’s been some shifting since. A burger joined the Hoots lineup; some appetizers and sandwiches disappeared. “We’d basically cut the menu by about 55 percent. And we may go a little lower depending on the spaces we go into,” said LeBas.

“We’re trying to get leaner and meaner in terms of our buildout, in terms of our cost budget, construction, our furniture, fixtures and equipment, as well as our square footage,” he said.

Hoots in Cicero saw about a 17 percent sales increase last year, compared to an industry average of 3.5 percent, he said. “We have a better handle on operations and efficiency, reducing our ticket times and leveraging technology with our third-party delivery.”

Delivery orders are expected to grow as Hoots brings on more delivery partners. It started out with UberEats and added DoorDash earlier this year. It signed on with PostMates this month and plans to join Grubhub this summer.

The two new Chicago Hoots will be significantly smaller than the 2,700-square-foot Cicero shop, as the company learned that it doesn’t need as much dining space. The Logan Square restaurant, at Diversey Avenue and Pulaski Road, will be 1,900 square feet, while the South Loop spot (management declined to be specific about the location) will be 1,300 square feet.

Other Hoots—the plan is to open a couple more in the Chicago area by the end of next year—will be about 1,500 square feet with seating for 35 to 40, compared to 89 at the Cicero Hoots and about 200 to 300 each at the 12 Chicago-area Hooters.

The smaller spots can help Hooters keep up with other chicken places such as the fast-growing Raising Cane’s, Wings Over and market-leading Wingstop, LeBas said. The limited-service chicken category is one of the fastest-growing menu areas, as many diners seek to increase chicken consumption, according to Technomic. About 33 percent of consumers expect to eat more chicken over the next year, according to Technomic’s 2019 Poultry Consumer Trend Report.

“We expect consumers to utilize restaurants, but shift more of their occasions to takeout and delivery, so I certainly think there’s some potential for growth for (the Hoots) brand,” said Anne Milles, Chicago-based Technomic’s senior manager for consumer insights. “The success will certainly come down to how they differentiate their menu from Wingstop’s and their competitors' as well as how they execute the off-premise in terms of maintaining that quality during that transit period.”

Meanwhile, Chicago-area full-service Hooters restaurants aren’t going anywhere, says LaBas. “People still want to come in and have the full-service experience with the iconic Hooters girls,” he said. “There are more than 2 million people in Chicago, so there are a lot of mouths to feed.”