TGIF Going...Going....
 

From a peak of 601 restaurants to now 163
Filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. (couldn't it have been on Friday?)

I liked their food, but in the last 5 years it seemed to go downhill.
Hoping the same doesn't happen to Chili's....my favorite for that type of restaurant.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/02/tgi-fridays-files-bankruptcy-protection




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Restaurant business is a tough one . If you don't/can't stay relevant you will have a lot of trouble with customer count . Covid hurt a lot of business but especially hard on restaurants .

Add to that a changing demographic of customers. Plus in home delivery . You have to be very solid to maintain brick and mortar restaurant. I wish them well as no one wants to see employees lose their jobs .

It was sad going to the one near my place the last couple times.

The young waitstaff was gone and replaced by older women that didn't seem to know much about the menu. It appeared they took the job to 'get out of the house'.

The menus were old and in bad shape, and the food was not consistent with prior visits.

In earlier years...their burgers were some of the best.

back in 2000, I traveled a lot for work, 4-5 days/wk, 1-3 cities per week. Food was on the company dime. I tried TGIF 3-4 times because I thought it should be good. I never liked it. I think I've been to a TGIF 2-3 times since because I was with a group that was going, never by my choice. I'm not that surprised.

What I'm more surprised by is that Bennigans died (LOOOONG time ago) and that Applebees hasn't.

^^^
There was a Bennigan's here on the same block that has the TGIF now.
20 years ago, TGIF was thriving...Bennigan's wasn't. I attribute that to higher cost of a dinner at Bennigan's...even though the food was better and more choices.

Applebees, around here, are doing very well....parking lot is full most of the time.

My wife and I ate at a Applebee's yesterday . Place was busy but not packed . Food was good but portion size was a little small . We always enjoyed eating at Bennigans.

^^^ My favorite of theirs is the Tex-Mex Shrimp Bowl....$13 (Applebee's)

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...hrimp-bowl.jpg

I suspect that only the restaurants with the most flexible/robust business plan will survive much longer. My local diner is one such, but food prices are really hurting the owner as with the rest of us. IDK how much longer a $13 burger will be around or how much higher it can go.

Went to one in DC once in the early 00s. That experience was so bad I never went to one again.
Surly staff, crap food, watery drinks - what’s not to love.

2lb ground beef is $9.50. I can make 4 good burgers from that.
Rolls and fries are $10 more.

Add a couple $ for lettuce and tomato and one has fresh made burger deluxe for 4 for under $6 a pop.

The local diner charges $16.99, and mine are better.
It needs to be compelling to pay triple the ingredient cost when you are feeding a whole houseful, and an indifferent burger just isn’t.

I always liked the food at Bennigans. I haven't in years, but I'd still go to a Chilis if I needed food and that was available.

TBH, I don't know if I've ever been to an Applebees. I think once, back in the mid 90s. One opened up near our apt, and some of us went. I don't think I've ever been back, and don't remember anything about the experience, so it must not have been too bad, just not good or memorable.

^^^ Chili's has a special going for a couple months now.

In response to the high price Big Mac at McD's...they came out with the Smasher Burger. They offer the 1/3 lb Smasher with unlimited chips and salsa, along with keep-full soft drink for $10.99
The Smasher is delicious.
I highly recommend it.

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The last time I was at Applebee's was a few months ago in Chelsea, Alabama. My kids and I took Mom out to lunch. The food was good, but the service sucked big time. I will not go back there again.

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Understood and agreed. But when I'm coming off of a 12 hour shift I feel compelled. Fortunately I only need to feed me. But it would be a shame if the only diner in town had to fold.

I think Red Lobster is going through the same type of bankruptcy.
I will miss them also if they can't make it.

They still have some of the best croutons you can find on a salad bar in my opinion. Wait! That's Ruby Tuesdays.... so I don't care if TGIF is doomed.

^^^ TGIF?...or Red Lobster?
RL salads are great.

Edit: Ruby Tuesdays is good.

RL has the cheesy garlic biscuits. It was Ruby Tuesdays that had some killer croutons. I had to look, they were pumpernickel and crunchy on the outside but soft and buttery on the inside. Loved those things and they just went away leaving me sad and signin "goodbye Ruby Tuesday..."

Arthur Treacher's is down to one or two locations, Both in Ohio in the NE of the state. Cuyahoga Falls and Garfield Heights. I want to go for the heck of it.

I will say afterwards, I'm full AF and that was too much cooking oil.

Did you ever lick a crouton and put it back in your salad so your family members would not steal it?

You know, if the tortilla chips are down to a half dozen you can do that too as a protective measure. A friend told me.

Well, there's always the Waffle House!!!

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You'll just never forgive me for that will ya?

The TGI Fridays near me closed back in 2019.
The Red Lobster closed earlier this year.

We still have an Applebee's, and somehow a Perkins.
We're getting more fast food, we got a Chick fil A a couple years ago, and a Five Guys that I don't know how it stays in business. We're now getting a Raisin' Cane's and getting a Panda Express back.

I try to go to locally owned restaurants on the rare times we do go out to eat.

The one and only time I've eaten at a Waffle House was in the mid 70's.
I still remember eating at the counter and my arms sticking to the syrup...
The waffle was good otherwise. :)

You guys remember the Ruby Tuesday sponsored Alex Job Porsche Daytona prototype ?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/daredevil26/2227092563

This is the actual HJ's on top of the mtn where I live.
It was built in the 1940s? The last time I checked, the roof looked as good as ever, but the atrium was filled with vines and the bubble gum machine's gum was bleached white.

It probably hadn't been changed since 1985.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1730677166.jpg

TGIF

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-UWWVlW...jpg&name=small

Are those employees wearing 17 pieces of flair?

Coughlin's law "bury the dead, they stink up the joint"

pic from 1965
No 15 pieces of flair yet.:)

Red lobster got screwed over by private equity…

Not sure what that means....still chapter 11?
I ate lunch at one this summer and I ordered off the lunch special menu. It was shrimp scampi with mashed taters and their biscuits. It was all good and I couldn't eat the whole works. I don't remember the exact price...but it was very good for the amount of food.

Ruby Tuesday had awesome food!

They're not gone....I ate at one a couple weeks ago.

Market saturation, Covid shutdowns, minimum wage raises, all-you-can-eat shrimp deal, plus management problems with Thai Union (but not sure about the details).
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/business/what-went-wrong-at-red-lobster/index.html

How many chains are out there? TGIF, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, Olive Garden, Red Lobster....
geesh never mind the burgers and pizza, just the seafood list is extensive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_seafood_restaurants

Wiki....

Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public.

I worked at Fridays in Atlanta back in 79 and 80 as a buser and then a waiter. There was only one Fridays in Atlanta back then, and it was located in Sandy Springs on Roswell Road, just inside 285. It was a meat market on Friday nights and Sunday nights. A lot of the Atlanta Falcons would show up after the game on Sundays. They were some big dudes.

We had a lot of fun sneaking shots and beers in the bathrooms. Then we would hang out after work (2am) for a little while before we went to Limelight In Buckhead or a private club for an all nighter. It was always weird to walk out and it was daylight. Then it was off to get breakfast somewhere. Only the young can do that.

We ate at the Fridays here in Mount Pleasant/Charleston a few years ago and it was a shadow of its former self. Back in the 80s, the loaded potato skins were half a potato hollowed out with cheese and bacon, in a circle on the plate, with sour cream in the center. They were delicious And we sometimes ate what diners didn’t finish (yuck). What we got at Friday’s a couple years ago was pieces of potato skin with cheese and bacon. It was pathetic and didn’t even taste the same.

^^^ The last time I was at the one near me in Grand Rapids was strange.
Like a lot of restaurants, it was divided in half....dining room and club room with bar.

Mid-day, the dining room was empty, the club room bar was full. The booths surrounding it were empty. Everyone that was at the restaurant was drinking at the bar.
No food being served...just drinks.

Next time you're there, grab me some croutons from the salad bar!