I've never understood the appeal of Cookout. It's a lot of food for a cheap price, but it's a lot of gross food. The only time I've seen people enjoy Cookout is late-night food coming back from the bars. If you have to be plastered to enjoy the food, it's probably not something you want to be eating.
Granted, the only Cookout I've seen that's had real success was in Greenville, popped right between three apartment complexes. Whoever franchised that location was a genius, because from 6:00 pm Thursday till 4:00 am Monday morning, there was just line after line of tipsy/drunk/plastered college students waiting for food.