In the '80s and '90s, TGI Fridays was a pretty cool place to be, but the times, they are
a-changin'.
In 2017, they saw a decline in sales of 5.1 percent, and has struggled with growth over
the last several years.
Here are all of the reasons that TGI Fridays is struggling.
The first TGI Fridays, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side, wasn't a family restaurant
at all.
It was a wildly popular singles bar created by a young man with zero restaurant experience.
Alan Stillman opened the bar when he realized that young adults in 1970s Manhattan could
only meet at organized cocktail parties.
Bars and public houses at the time were the dominion of beer-swilling men.
"Is it fair to say you got into the business because you wanted to meet women?"
"Absolutely fair!"
While designing a place where young ladies would be comfortable having a cocktail with
friends, he added reasonably priced food to the menu to keep customers coming through
the doors.
And they did.
Lines soon formed around the block, and Stillman hired doormen to handle the eager crowds.
The bartenders became sought-after mini-celebs.
Stillman claims he was the inspiration for Tom Cruise's character in the movie Cocktail.
The phenomenon drew franchisees who were eager to recreate the excitement in their own cities.
Stillman reports that it was the expansion to Southern towns that saw the bar morph into
a family restaurant.
He says,
"That was the big change.
It took six or seven years, but TGI Friday's became a very different animal."
The original TGI Fridays was a fun, homey place, with imitation Tiffany lamps, and walls
cluttered with antique memorabilia.
New franchises mimicked the look so guests could gawk at strategically placed road signs,
live ferns, quirky Americana, taxidermy, and musical instruments.
The Commercial Appeal called it
"...a place with so much atmosphere you have to push it aside to get in."
Competitors including Ruby Tuesday and Bennigan's copied the kitschy aesthetic, and the gimmick
was lampooned in film restaurants like Waiting's Shenaniganz, and Office Space's Chotchkies.
"People can get a cheeseburger anywhere.
OK?
They come to Chotchkies for the atmosphere and the attitude."
As more chains copied the look, quality began to decline, and the grandmother's attic or
saloon decor soon became associated with lousy food.
In 2005, TGI Fridays started revamping the decor, discarding the antiques, and losing
the servers' flair and candy-striped shirts.
New locations focused on minimalism.
A protoype location in Texas featured blonde wood, juice stations, and open-mic nights.
Cut can it ever recapture the coolness factor it held in the '70s,'80s and '90s?
Restaurant consultant Darren Tristano told Ad Week,
"Today's younger consumer wants to go to a place that their parents didn't patronize,
and certainly not a bar and grill from the '70s where you could pick up a flight attendant."
Millennials are used to being blamed for the death of any industry or trend, so it should
come as no surprise that they are also marked as one of the leading causes of the downfall
of casual-dining chains like TGI Fridays.
According to Business Insider, millennials prefer fast-casual chains like Chipotle or
Panera Bread, which offer faster service, cheaper prices, and more customizable options.
QSR reports that it is not only millennials who are flocking to fast-casual restaurants,
but also Generation Z, who will quickly replace millennials as the demographic that businesses
will cater to.
And what appeals to Gen Z?
The generation that grew up with more adventurous taste buds apparently has an appreciation
for authentic global flavors and healthy foods, and gravitates towards spaces where they can
linger with friends without the nuisance of a waiter.
What does this mean for TGI Fridays?
With the younger generations predicted to vastly outnumber Baby Boomers and Gen X in
the next few years, it seems mozzarella sticks and whiskey-glazed sliders aren't going to
cut it much longer.
Even for millennials who do have a hankering for loaded potato skins, Business Insider
reports that they are far less likely to come into the restaurant to order them, and will
opt for delivery instead.
While offering delivery to a demographic that values convenience and time may seem like
a no-brainer for casual-dining chain restaurants, the logistics of it require added expenses
such as additional insurance and employing drivers.
Third-party delivery services like Grubhub or DoorDash, which TGI Fridays uses for 122
locations, can ease the burden for chains anxious to offer delivery, but take quality
control out of the company's hands.
Plus, beverages, especially alcoholic ones, drive sales at casual-dining restaurants.
Since you can't have a Tropical Berry Mojito Shaker delivered, TGI Fridays doesn't get
to upsell you a cocktail with your meal.
One test program run by TGI Fridays in Texas that offered delivery customers a way to get
that cocktail after all, but it means two stops for delivery drivers who must fetch
the food and mixers at the restaurant, and the proper booze at a nearby liquor store.
The drivers are trained to check for photo ID before they pass off the tequila.
TGI Fridays launched its Endless Apps promotion in 2014, no doubt to rival the price-slashing
promos going on at competitors like Chili's or Applebee's, who offer deals like two entrees
and a starter for $20.
The Endless Apps deal featured a limited choice of appetizers, including nachos and pot stickers,
which guests could continue getting refills of while only paying $10 each.
No doggie bags or substitutions, and sharing was discouraged.
One Gawker writer spent 14 hours in a Brooklyn TGI Friday's painfully polishing off eight
plates of mozzarella sticks, just to see if they would cut her off.
They didn't.
The promotion seemed like a limited-time sort of thing, but TGI Fridays has permanently
added the promotion to their menu.
What can a seemingly money-losing promotion like bottomless appetizers mean for the quality
of food or the level of service?
According to many consumer reviews, it's only gone downhill.
Complaints include servers not allowing doggie bags for other ordered items, and deliberately
waiting 30 minutes or longer to refill plates to encourage guests to give up and leave.
That's not cool.
While the chain has vowed to do a complete overhaul of its menu, with new additions like
fire grilled meats and seafood, and larger servings of fan favorites like baby back ribs,
it hasn't been enough to win over everyone who visits.
Writers from Business Insider made a visit to a Manhattan location to sample the new
and revamped menu, which included a ho-hum margarita, dry chicken wings, difficult-to-cut
ribs, and mediocre potato skins.
A newly added veggie burger and red velvet milkshake also failed to make the grade.
The mozzarella sticks, however, were given a thumbs up.
It was notable, though, that TGI Fridays tried to push back against the casual-dining concept,
and focus more on their bar and apps.
CMO Stephanie Purdue told Business Insider,
"I think it's all about returning to the roots of Fridays."
TGI Friday's food is not perceived to be very healthy.
When pitted against fast casual chains that offer fresh ingredients, global flavors, and
more ways to customize menu items, TGI Fridays may have to rethink standardized offerings
of frozen-in-the-factory fare.
If you visit a Chipotle, you can see someone making the fresh guacamole using real avocados.
Visit a TGI Fridays, and the appetizers look and smell exactly the same as the TGI Fridays
branded frozen appetizers available at a supermarket.
It's not just fast casual restaurants offering potential customers healthier meals with more
variety.
Grocery chains have increased ready-made meals available for purchase, and have increasingly
added delivery to the services they offer.
Meal delivery kits, like Blue Apron or Dinnerly, give people what they need to create a restaurant-quality
meal at home, using fresh ingredients and little to no processed foods.
With younger generations expecting healthier fare to be part of a tasty and economical
meal, chains like TGI Fridays may be left in the dust.
TGI Fridays has always been a restaurant aimed at middle-class America.
So the decline of the middle class in the US may be what's to blame for the loss of
love for restaurants like TGI Fridays.
CNBC reports that while 70 percent of Americans consider themselves to be middle class, the
actual number of middle class families has been declining for decades, and represents
closer to 50 percent of the country.
While some of those formerly middle class families are moving up the class ladder, many
are now living paycheck to paycheck.
And that group is more likely to opt for a fast food meal than a meal at a casual-dining
restaurant like Fridays, where checks average $14 per person.
Even families earning six figures can fall into this bracket, especially in more expensive
areas of the country.
If lower earners are opting for fast food, where are the remaining middle class folks
or the upper income earners eating?
Urbanization and the revitalization of formerly blighted downtown areas has paved the way
for an uptick in the amount of independently owned restaurants across the country, particularly
in major metropolitan areas.
Why dine on deep-fried apps in a shopping mall parking lot, when you can enjoy a farm-to-table
meal prepared by a local chef?
The Nation's Restaurant News cited a report from consulting firm Pentallect indicating
that independent restaurants are expected to see up to 5 percent growth by 2020, almost
double the amount of growth predicted for national chain restaurants like TGI Fridays.
Consumers surveyed rated independent restaurants as winning in 12 out of 15 attributes studied,
praising locally owned establishments for sharing their values, delivering higher quality
food and service, and offering more innovative menus and decor.
Says Bob Goldin from Pentallect,
"People, especially millennials, are moving downtown to more gentrifying neighborhoods,
and they're frequenting local establishments that are winning on these factors."
In 2013, 13 TGI Fridays franchise locations were included in the 29 total bars the New
Jersey ABC and Division of Criminal Justice investigated in a sting operation called "Operation
Swill."
Officers found restaurants were not only switching premium brands with low-cost alcohol, but
were also engaging in truly disgusting trickery like serving rubbing alcohol mixed with food
coloring instead of scotch or filling liquor bottles with dirty water.
TGI Fridays issued a statement shortly after the humiliating scandal, saying of the allegations:
"If accurate, they would represent a violation of our company's values and our extensive
bar and beverage standards which are designed to deliver the highest guest experience in
our restaurants."
According to YouGov, one of the biggest deal-breakers for customers is finding out that a brand
is treating employees poorly.
It's one of the top three reasons people stop frequenting a place.
Once that happens, seven in ten will never go back.
That's why labor scandals for TGI Fridays have been such a big deal.
In the wake of news that UK staff would get a portion of front-of-house service charge
payments instead a raise for 2018, YouGov saw TGI Fridays' favorability ratings take
a nose-dive.
According to Unite the Union, workers in several UK-based TGI Fridays walked out on strike
a shocking five times, all over accusations of wage abuses.
And in 2017, TGI Fridays agreed to pay a whopping $19.1 million to settle a lawsuit in New York
that claimed the chain had failed to pay workers minimum wage, overtime, and that they had
mishandled tips.
The settlement was a record sum at the time, says WaiterPay.
Imagine the location of a typical TGI Fridays.
It's probably in a mall or near one.
But mall traffic is declining, and according to Restaurant Business, more and more people
are doing most of their shopping online.
That's not just hurting stores, that's hurting the restaurants hoping to cash in on hungry
holiday shoppers.
For many restaurants, the fourth quarter of the year is their make-or-break.
For Fridays, it may be the breaking point.
Around 2010, TGI Fridays set its sights on the suburban market.
They were hoping to capture a client base from suburban malls and their surrounding
areas, and according to what the then-CEO told Business Insider, that unfortunate decision
led to declining sales and struggles.
They're definitely not alone in the mistake other casual dining chains like Ruby Tuesday
and Applebee's are in the same position as well.
Looks like the clock might finally be striking midnight on this endless Friday.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.