Why Biker Gangs Prefer Twin Peaks

It turns out that motorcycle-riding toughs like craft beer and burgers, too

Shooting Outside Twin Peaks Restaurant Leaves 9 Dead

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The Twin Peaks restaurant chain was born a decade ago with a simple ambition: to offer America a racier alternative to Hooters. The scene outside a Twin Peaks location in Waco, Texas, on Sunday went beyond racy to violent chaos when members of rival biker gangs engaged in a shootout and melee that left 9 dead, 18 injured, and about 170 arrested.

Why did the bikers choose a Twin Peaks as the venue for their mayhem? It may surprise some to learn that the edgy restaurants are not dives. Twin Peaks Chief Executive Officer Randy DeWitt’s highly successful formula has been to serve better food and beer than Hooters offers. He emphasized that the items on the menu are made with fresh ingredients, at a time when even sports bar patrons were becoming more food-conscious. And he filled the bar shelves with fine whiskies and specially made craft beers, with suggestive names like Dirty Blonde and Knotty Brunette. The approach has worked. Twin Peaks grew to 65 locations last year, with sales of $239 million, 46 percent more than in 2013, according to Technomic.