Joe Francis owns Mantra Films Inc., the Santa Monica company that sells nearly $100 million worth of soft porn DVDs every year. The company also produces more than 700 events and runs several well-trafficked Web sites.

Now Francis, 33, has set his eyes on two lucrative brand extensions: apparel and restaurants. For both projects, which will carry the “Girls Gone Wild” name, he will follow his proven formula that sex sells, a motto he learned in his first marketing class at USC.

“Sexiness sells too, and edginess sells,” Francis explained. “Women want to be around sex as much as men do, because women want to feel sexy.”

Francis, undaunted by his many legal problems, plans to open two restaurants by the end of the year – one in Cancun and the other in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Francis emphasized that his restaurants won’t feel like strip clubs. “You’ll be comfortable going in there, but you’re going to get a ‘Girls Gone Wild’ experience,” he said, adding that “in some countries, we’ll do topless optional at night.”

At the same time, Francis doesn’t plan to repeat what he sees as the mistakes of Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Café and Hooters, which he believes have blurred their image by trying to become mainstream family dining establishments.

“The restaurant business depends on doing at least 70 percent of your revenue at the bar,” Francis said. “Even if you do 50-50, at least 70 to 80 percent of your profit comes from the bar. So you need to be open ’til 2 o’clock in the morning. You need to cater to a younger crowd. Being a family restaurant is not going to give you bar business. We’re very honest about that. It’s a fundamental problem with all these themed restaurants.”

The restaurant rollout will start with owned-and-operated stores in beach tourist destinations. Once the format is set, the company plans to open smaller outlets in college towns across the country. Francis expects some type of franchising or licensing structure for the college-friendly clubs, with a total build-out of about 300 locations.

“Every college town has a tremendous drinking crowd, but you don’t have a consistent place for them to go that has hard liquor,” said Francis.

However, some restaurant experts say that the emphasis on alcohol carries risks.

“You’re promoting this type of behavior – the consumption of large quantities of alcohol to get you into this ‘Girls Gone Wild’ mentality,” said Dean Small, a partner in Synergy Consulting Group, a chain restaurant consultancy based in Laguna Niguel. “You have tremendous exposure, because when people over-consume alcohol, unfortunate things tend to happen.”

While Small confirmed that restaurants make a lot of their money at the bar, the chains market themselves as a restaurant first and watering hole second.

“In the restaurant business, the rule is food first. Otherwise you’re just a bar,” he said. “They enjoy and want the beverage revenue, but bars come and go. Successful restaurants have longevity.”