TGI Fridays has closed 30 locations around the U.S. since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.
The closures follow about 100 others in the year leading up to the filing on Nov. 2. They leave the chain with 133 U.S. restaurants, per its website. That’s about half the number it had at the end of 2023, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic.
Local media reports from New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio confirmed that TGI Fridays restaurants have closed there in recent days and weeks. Signs posted to the doors of some locations said they’d made the “difficult decision” to close.
TGI Fridays had not responded to a request for comment as of publication time.
The Dallas-based chain has been struggling for years from declining sales and store closures. From 2008 to 2023, it lost 55% of its U.S. locations, and sales declined by 63%, according to data from Technomic.
Then last year, the company lost control of many of its assets due to an issue with its whole business securitization. Soon after, a planned merger with U.K. franchisee Hostmore fell through.
All of that led up to the bankruptcy filing, which pertained only to Fridays’ 39 company-owned locations in the U.S. Earlier this month, the company announced that it will sell nine of them to restaurant operator Mera Corp. for $34.5 million.
Nearly 400 other TGI Fridays restaurants worldwide are operated by franchisees. Earlier this month, Fridays reportedly tapped former CEO and current franchisee Ray Blanchette to manage the global franchise business.
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