In the 1960s, TGI Fridays pioneered the concept of singles bars and brought potato skins to the masses. Flash forward to today, and locations of the well-known chain are quietly disappearing.
Restaurant Business reported last Friday that at least of dozens TGI Fridays locations had shuttered over the previous month, including six last week. Per the outlet, stores closed in the East Coast, Southeast and Midwest.
Closures reported last week were in Leesburg, Va.; Allentown, Pa.; Middletown, Poughkeepsie and Clifton Park, in New York; and Enfield, Conn. Earlier closures have been reported in Charlotte, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Grand Chute, Wisc.; Saginaw Township, Mich.; Schererville, Ind.; and St. Louis Park and Edina in Minnesota. As of last Friday, there were around 215 TGI Fridays locations.
Fox Business also reported that recent closures were reflected on the TGI Fridays website.
According to the company website, the first TGI Fridays opened its doors in Manhattan, N.Y., in 1965. It became known as the “first happy hour place for singles to mingle.”
Over the coming decades, it became a popular chain restaurants known for “finger-food” appetizers such as chicken wings and mozzarella sticks. These chain restaurants have struggled in recent years and TGI Fridays is no exception, according to Restaurant Business.
Last May, the company announced that Ray Blanchette had stepped down as Chief Executive Officer. Rohit Manocha, chairman of the board and co-founder of TriArtisan Capital Advisors, became interim CEO.
“We are deeply grateful for Mr. Blanchette’s contributions over the last several years. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, and we look forward to building on the legacy he has left to take Fridays to new heights,” Manocha said. He noted that brand performance improved under Blanchette’s leadership.
Brandon Coleman III was named as TGI Fridays’ CEO last August. However, just a few months later, Coleman was replaced by longtime TGI Fridays board member Weldon Spangler. In January, the company announced the sale of eight previously corporate-owned restaurants in the Northeast to Blanchette. Spangler also announced that it could close 36 underperforming locations in select markets across the country.
“As part of the store closures, TGI Fridays is offering more than 1,000 transfer opportunities, which represents over 80% of total impacted employees,” said a press release from the company.
Following that announcement, TGI Fridays lost control of most of its assets, said Restaurant Business. Additionally, it said that a proposed acquisition by U.K. franchisee Hostmore PLC fall through. Days before the deal fell through, a trustee terminated TGI Fridays as the manager of its whole business securitization and put a backup manager in charge of some of its operations.
“The termination was due in part to an overpayment of a management fee from the securitization to TGI Fridays,” Restaurant Business said.
Hostmore cited uncertainty related to this development as its reason to call off the acquisition and then filed for the U.K. equivalent of bankruptcy and closed 35 locations. The companies were planning to sell their remaining corporate stores to pay down debt.
Regarding the recent round of closures, the Restaurant Business said the reason for them is unclear. Signs on the shuttered locations reportedly said the closures were a “difficult decision” and directed customers to other nearby locations.
“TGI Fridays had not responded to a request for comment as of publication time,” Restaurant Business said last Friday.