Two years after TGI Fridays’ former corporate entity filed for Chapter 11 protection, the casual-dining brand is pitching itself as a comeback story.
Ray Blanchette, the CEO of TGI Fridays and the founder of Sugarloaf Hospitality, which owns and franchises the brand, told Business Insider that the company is seeing “a resurgence of the brand.”
“The consumer is now beginning to re-recognize that casual dining has inherent value,” he said.
Blanchette, who returned as CEO in January 2025 after working as a full-time franchisee, also said the chain is focused on supporting franchisees and helping them to grow their businesses.
“The turnaround only works if our franchisees are healthy, period,” he said. “We don’t spend any time at all thinking about the bankruptcy from two years ago. It’s never discussed.”
The rise, fall, and reinvention of TGI Fridays
TGI Fridays began as a New York City singles bar in the 1960s before growing into a global casual-dining chain known for burgers, cocktails, and shareable appetizers.
However, TGI Fridays’ US presence shrank throughout the 2010s as the chain closed more than 200 restaurants. TGI Fridays also shelved plans to go public in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic upended the restaurant industry.
TGI Fridays filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 2, 2024, with Reuters reporting that the chain was facing $37 million in debt and planned to restructure by selling off its assets by January 2025.
In early 2025, TGI Fridays sold or closed its company-owned restaurants, and Ray Blanchette took over as CEO. Sugarloaf Hospitality, which is owned and operated by Blanchette, took over the brand’s remaining assets.
The business is now also supported primarily by its network of franchisees, who oversee 70 TGI Fridays locations nationwide. The company has roughly 400 restaurants worldwide.
The chain is betting on its franchisees to fuel its global comeback
The company’s new targets are based on current and prospective franchise development, including expansion in Peru, the Maldives, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Balkans, as well as continued growth in established markets such as the Philippines and Taiwan.
These developments are part of the company’s broader growth plan, which aims to expand TGI Fridays to more than 1,000 restaurants worldwide and generate $2 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
“Those aren’t arbitrary goals,” Blanchette said. “A vision should be aspirational, but also attainable.”
“In the US, we’re seeing a complete resurgence,” he said. “We just signed our first domestic development agreement in 10 years,” with several more agreements in final negotiations.
The next chapter for Fridays will depend on whether that franchise momentum can translate into a meaningful comeback for a brand that was once everywhere in the US.
“We’ve invested so much time and effort in improving the quality of the food, the experiences, reengaging the franchisees, refocusing the brand, and we’re growing again,” he said. “So ultimately, that’s the true test, right?”
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