The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that TGI Fridays Inc. plans to leave the business of running restaurants in the USA, as well as to sell its UK restaurants.
TGI Fridays is owned by private-equity firms, and executives told the Wall Street Journal that it plans to sell most of its 247 restaurants in the USA to franchisees, also selling all 63 of its company-owned restaurants in the United Kingdom.
TGI Fridays has been preparing for its move in the USA by remodelling restaurants, boosting its bar offerings and revamping its menu in an effort to make the brand more relevant to customers, rebuild revenues, and make it more attractive to potential franchisees.
TGI Fridays Chief Executive Nick Shepherd is reported saying in an interview, “We had to decide: are we a franchiser or an operator of restaurants? When you do both, the franchisees worry that the parent company is focusing on its restaurants first.”
As has been widely reported, the UK performance and culture of TGI Fridays has been successfully rebuilt in recent years: given the current interest in investing in the thriving UK restaurant market, there will be considerable interest when the company is brought to market.
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