Feeling the pressure from fast casuals, TGI Fridays said it’s on a mission to land more lunch business. The chain is mounting a targeted rollout of a new midday menu designed for speed and frictionless mobile payment options.
The program will be marketed nationwide at participating locations.
The granddaddy of casual dining cited research showing that 73 percent of Americans eat at their desks at least twice a week because of what the chain has dubbed FOLO, or Fear of Lunching Out. The initial markets for the rollout apparently have a high percentage of office workers who don’t venture outside their workplace at midday.
The new menu includes such items as the Truffle Stacked Burger, Mediterranean Mahi Mahi Naan’ Wich, Poppin’ Boba and the Green with Passion Smoothie.
TGI Fridays is offering hundreds of $25 gift card for guests who post details of their lunch April 13 on social media using #NationalMakeLunchCountDay.
Coinciding with the updated menu and marketing campaign, Fridays is opening a new prototype in Corpus Christi, Texas. Management says the new look is brighter and embraces such technologies as Apple Pay, digital reservations, server tablets and Wifi.
“The changes we’re making are grounded in the feedback we receive from our guests and on in-depth research about the needs, behaviors and social drivers for millennials and what we call ‘the millennial-minded’—essentially guests that crave social experiences and love to socialize all day long,” a Fridays spokesperson told RB.
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