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TGI Fridays

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T.G.I. Friday's
Company typeWholly owned subsidiary
IndustryRestaurants
GenreCasual dining
Founded(March 15, 1965 (1965-03-15)) in
New York City
FounderAlan Stilman
HeadquartersCarrollton, Texas, U.S.
Number of locations
992 (March 2011)[1]
Area served
Global
ParentCarlson Companies
WebsiteFridays.com

T.G.I. Friday's (often shortened to "Friday's" in most countries, and stylized "FRiDAY'S", or "T.G.I.s" in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is an American restaurant chain focusing on casual dining. The company is a unit of the Carlson Companies. Its name is taken from the expression TGIF. The company asserts that it stands for "Thank Goodness It's Friday," although as of 2010 some television commercials for the chain have also made use of the alternative phrase, "Thank God It's Friday's."[2] The chain is known for its appearance, with red-striped canopies, brass railings, Tiffany lamps and frequent use of antiques as decor.

History

A TGI Friday's in Manahawkin, New Jersey that opened in 2003 and uses the new design
A TGI Friday's in Christ Church, Barbados, West Indies.

The Friday's restaurant chain was founded by Alan Stillman in 1965. The bachelor perfume salesman lived in a neighborhood with many airline stewardesses, fashion models, secretaries, and other single people on the East Side of Manhattan near the Queensboro Bridge, and hoped that opening a bar would help him meet women. At the time, Stillman's choices for socializing were non-public cocktail parties, or "guys' beer-drinking hangout" bars that women usually did not visit; he recalled that "there was no public place for people between, say, twenty-three to thirty-seven years old, to meet." He sought to recreate the comfortable cocktail-party atmosphere in public despite having no experience in the restaurant business.[3][4]

With $5,000 of his own money and $5,000 borrowed from his mother,[3] Stillman purchased a bar he often visited, The Good Tavern at the corner of 63rd Street and First Avenue, and renamed it T.G.I. Friday's after the expression "Thank God! It's Friday!" from his years at Bucknell University.[5][6] The new restaurant, which opened on March 15, 1965, served standard American cuisine, bar food, and alcoholic beverages,[4] but emphasized food quality and preparation.[5] The exterior featured a red-and-white striped awning and blue paint, the Gay Nineties interior included fake Tiffany lamps,[4] wooden floors, Bentwood chairs, and striped tablecloths, and the bar area added brass rails and stained glass. The employees were young and wore red-and-white striped soccer shirts,[5] and every time someone had a birthday, the entire restaurant crew came around with a cake and sang Friday's traditional birthday song. The first location closed in 1994,[3] and is a British pub called "Baker Street"; the brass rails are still there.

Although Malachy McCourt's nearby eponymous bar preceded T.G.I. Friday's[7] and Stillman credited the media for creating the term, he had unintentionally created one of the first singles bars. It benefited from the near-simultaneous availability of the birth-control pill and Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique:[5][3][4]

I don’t think there was anything else like it at the time. Before T.G.I. Friday’s, four single twenty-five year-old girls were not going out on Friday nights, in public and with each other, to have a good time. They went to people’s apartments for cocktail parties or they might go to a real restaurant for a date or for somebody’s birthday, but they weren’t going out with each other to a bar for a casual dinner and drinks because there was no such place for them to go.[4]

T.G.I. Friday's was one of the first to use promotions such as ladies' night,[5] and Stillman achieved his hopes of meeting women; "Have you seen the movie Cocktail? Tom Cruise played me!...Why do girls want to date the bartender? To this day, I’m not sure that I get it."[4] He and the restaurant benefited from its location—according to Stillman, 480 stewardesses lived in the apartment building next door[3]—and received publicity in national magazines. T.G.I. Friday's became so popular that it had to install ropes to create an area for those waiting in line, also unusual at the time for a restaurant. A competitor, Maxwell's Plum, opened across the street, and others soon followed.[4]

With fellow Bucknell graduate Ben Benson,[6] Stillman opened other restaurants, including Thursday's, Wednesday's, Tuesday's, and Ice Cream Sunday's. Franchising of T.G.I. Friday's began in 1971[5] in Memphis, Tennessee[4] in the Overton Square district; that location has since closed. As new locations opened in the suburbs parents brought their children, and the chain changed its focus to casual dining for families. Stillman sold the restaurant chain in the 1970s to the Carlson Companies—although he kept the original location[8]—and, now married, founded Smith & Wollensky in 1977 with Benson.[3][4][6]

The oldest continually operating Friday's was in Louisville, Kentucky on Linn Station Road. It opened in August 1977 and at the time was the 31st store in operation. However, this location has been closed and shuttered as of May, 2011 without explanation. By the early 1980s the chain had grown to 100 stores and issued an Initial Public Offering in 1983, but faced growing competition and declining sales in the mid-1980s. After T.G.I. Friday's financial performance improved, the company became privately held again in 1989.[5]

Friday's has also been used as a restaurant for hotels run by Country Inns & Suites by Carlson brand. The largest Friday's franchisee is The Briad Group with about 70 locations in the United States.[9] A notable international franchisee was Whitbread PLC, the owner of TGI Friday's UK. Up until 2007, it had 45 locations in the UK. On January 17, 2007, Whitbread sold operating rights of all 45 restaurants back to TGI Friday's UK Limited (a consortium consisting of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc. and ABN Amro Capital) thus exiting a partnership formed in 1986.[10]

A brand extension, which features the Friday's concept combined with the atmosphere of a sports bar and is called Friday's Front Row Sports Grill, is found at three Major League Baseball stadiums which each overlook the playing field; Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, Milwaukee's Miller Park, and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington in Arlington, Texas, along with a stand-alone restaurant in Orlando, Florida.

Historically, the chain's highest grossing location is at Haymarket Leicester Square, which opened in 1992 in Central London. The Haymarket branch is also regarded as the 'most popular' branch as well as being financially most successful. In October 2009, Haymarket broke the world record for biggest profit made in any week, throughout T.G.I Friday's history, and has also been home to several past winners from the bartenders competition.[11]

Design

TGI Friday's in Goodlettsville, Tennessee

The newer T.G.I. Friday's franchises (as well as redesigned restaurants) are more contemporary, with wallpaper, granite exteriors, and red-and-white striped lamps instead of Tiffany. The exteriors have stucco, the entrance doors have "F" shaped handles, and a metal cup above the door has a stripe saying "In Here, It's always Friday". Most Friday's have a propeller and a rowing scull on display as part of their antiques, which are actually a part of a story told to all Friday's employees; the scull always contains a pair of saddle shoes and a bottle of champagne to remind employees of the value of teamwork, leadership, and celebrating success.

Kitchen sign in a TGI Friday's Restaurant

Friday's has a large menu with an emphasis on alcoholic beverages which includes their famous "Ultimate" drinks which are served in an 18 oz. (532 mL) glass, and often made with top shelf and darker liquors. They also focus on a variety of blended drinks that are signature to the Friday's name, such as the "Tropicolada" and the "Friday's Freeze". A section of the menu is dedicated to the "Jack Daniel's Grill", a selection of items with a special Jack Daniel's-branded sauce.

T.G.I. Friday's formerly served Atkins approved appetizers, entrées, and desserts. In 2006, the Atkins name was removed from the menu, but the restaurant continues to offer both low carbohydrate and low fat menu items.

Licensed products

The company licenses its name to Heinz which produces a line of frozen foods sold in grocery stores. A line of snack items and pre-mixed liquor drinks are also licensed and sold. The franchise’s exteriors were redesigned in 2009 by Gilfillan Callahan Architects, represented by Carlson Restaurants Worldwide.

Global operations

Friday's currently has over 920 restaurants in 60 countries (excluding the United States).[12] {{Top}} may refer to:

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References

  1. ^ T.G.I. FRIDAY’S® FACTS
  2. ^ T.G.I. Friday's Restaurants Timeline. Also, their menu cover page says "Thank Goodness It's Friday".
  3. ^ a b c d e f Patton, Phil (1994-12). "AGENTS of CHANGE". American Heritage. Retrieved February 22, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Twilley, Nicola and Krista Ninivaggi (November 15, 2010). "A Cocktail Party In The Street: An Interview With Alan Stillman". Edible Geography. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Prewitt, Milford (March 29, 1993). "Stillman: Friday's filled a generation's need". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c Witchel, Alex (December 30, 2008). "A Grown-Up Takes the Long View". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  7. ^ Schneider, Daniel B. (December 27, 1998). "F.Y.I". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  8. ^ "Granddaddy of singles bars: a look at T.G.I. Friday's today". Nation's Restaurant News. September 1, 1986. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  9. ^ The Briad Group, Hoovers – accessed January 10, 2010
  10. ^ "Media > Press Releases > Archive".
  11. ^ Martin, Richard (1994). "TGI Friday's forges ahead in 'unfriendly' territory – Europe – Special Report – Company Profile". Nation's Restaurant News. {{cite news}}: Text "Find Articles at BNET.com" ignored (help); Text "Nation's Restaurant News" ignored (help)
  12. ^ http://global.tgifridays.com/index.php/tgi-fridays-brand/our-heritage

South Korea

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