TGI Fridays to return to NZ?

posted on 19th February 2014

The Australian master franchisee for the TGI Fridays chain is in New Zealand looking for sites, with plans to open here by the end of 2015. This would mark a return to New Zealand for the American chain, which currently operates over 900 restaurants in 60-plus countries. TGI Fridays previously operated a single restaurant in Christchurch but this closed many years ago. TGI Fridays operates in the casual dining space currently occupied by local chains Valentines and Cobb & Co.

Cox is evaluating two potential sites in Auckland, one in the downtown/waterfront precinct and the other in a suburban location.

The company estimates that each new restaurant will create about 80 full and part-time jobs.

However, retail analyst Tim Morris said fast food casual dining chains did not work outside Canada and the United States.

"Chain casual dining hasn't demonstrated an ability to scale globally," Morris said. Other casual dining chains like Denny's, Cobb & Co and Pizza Hut had not worked in New Zealand, he said.

Read more at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/n...

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