Dive Brief:
- TGI Fridays has opened a restaurant inside the Hilton Garden Inn in Hollywood, California, the company said in a press release Wednesday.
- This is the second Fridays location within a property owned by RLJ Lodging Trust, a hotel investment company that also operates a full-sized Fridays attached to a Courtyard Marriott near Chicago’s Midway International Airport.
- Hotels are increasingly becoming a significant growth channel for Fridays, which said its restaurants attached to hotels have higher sales volumes than traditional streetside locations.
Dive Insight:
Previously TGI Fridays’ hotel restaurants were adjacent with connecting access. This new strategy is bringing the brand into hotels and converting “unbranded, underperforming restaurants,” Chris Delvin, chief development officer at TGI Fridays, said in an email to Restaurant Dive. These spaces can be converted in a few months compared to a new build that takes 12 to 18 months from site approval to opening, he said, adding that return on investment is expected to be favorable.
“There is massive white space for TGI Fridays within travel-driven locations, representing an incredible growth opportunity for our brand,” Delvin said in a press release.
TGI Fridays used an existing restaurant space within the Hilton Garden Inn Hollywood to build its restaurant. The space is 4,000 square feet, features an outdoor patio and seats 150 guests, the press release said. The renovation was executed with Aimbridge Hospitality, a leading global hotel management company operating the Hilton Garden Inn Hollywood.
TGI Fridays also has locations in airports and casinos, the press release said. It renovated a restaurant within the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport last year, and that location is on track to have the highest sales volume of any airport restaurant, TGI Fridays claimed.
The opening of the non-traditional location in California comes months after the chain closed 36 underperforming corporate-owned restaurants. Within the past year, TGI Fridays also brought on a new CEO, appointed a U.S. president/COO and hired a CFO/president of international markets. The chain updated its menu last year with new entrees, appetizers, salads and other items. In April, it entered into a merger with its largest global franchisee, Hostmore, in a $220 million deal.
Hotel food and beverage revenues have declined in recent years, dropping by 72.5% in 2020, according to CBRE. Even after the worst of the pandemic passed, F&B revenues were still down, with CBRE estimating that 2022 annual F&B revenue would be 88.3% of 2019 levels.
