TGI Fridays filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2024 and closed a net of over 200 US locations in two years, leaving the chain with just 69 domestic restaurants by mid-2026. On October 1, its new owner Sugarloaf Hospitality announced the brand’s first US franchise development agreement in more than a decade: six restaurants in New York State, a market where the franchise chain was born in 1965.
Founded on Manhattan’s Upper East Side 61 years ago, TGI Fridays once operated hundreds of US locations before a combination of pandemic fallout, rising food costs, and franchisee instability led to the Chapter 11 filing in November 2024. The bankruptcy process, which concluded under the oversight of the US Bankruptcy Court, transferred ownership to Sugarloaf Hospitality and cleared the path for a restructured operational footing. CEO Ray Blanchette, who returned to lead the company in 2025, has since unveiled a recovery roadmap the brand calls its “1-2-3 Strategic Vision.”
TGI Fridays
That Fridays Feeling™
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A Six-Restaurant Development Deal in New York
The franchise agreement was signed with Bliss Bites LLC, controlled by Vinod Chand, a hospitality entrepreneur with more than 35 years of industry experience. Under the terms, Bliss Bites will develop five new TGI Fridays restaurants across New York State over a three-year period and has simultaneously acquired the brand’s existing location in Central Islip, bringing the group’s total portfolio to six franchise restaurants. The deal marks TGI Fridays’ return to active domestic franchise recruitment after a period in which the company focused primarily on stabilizing existing operations and continuing to expand internationally.
An Ambitious Target After a Steep Decline
TGI Fridays currently operates nearly 400 restaurants across approximately 40 countries, with its US footprint concentrated among its 69 remaining domestic locations, all franchised. The “1-2-3 Strategic Vision” sets a target of more than 1,000 global locations and $2 billion in annual system revenue by 2030. That trajectory would require the brand to more than double its current global count over four years. The company has indicated no additional store closures are expected as a result of the completed bankruptcy process, and existing franchisee agreements have remained intact throughout the restructuring.
Menu Overhaul and Technology Investments Accompany the Rebuild
Alongside franchise recruitment, TGI Fridays has introduced several new menu items as part of its brand refresh, including a tableside fondue add-on, a half-rack rib sandwich, and a Dubai Chocolate Espresso Martini. The chain has also entered a technology partnership with Toast, a restaurant management platform, to modernize ordering and guest experience infrastructure across its US network.
Internationally, the brand is targeting new openings in airports, hotel properties, and resort destinations including properties in Peru, Japan, India, and the Maldives. Blanchette has described the recovery effort as one that required building the company’s operational infrastructure “right from the ground up.”
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