TGI Friday's Inc. Announces Plans To Accelerate Franchise Growth

By: TGI Fridays | 1,014 Shares 351 Reads

Thomas McCord Elevated to Sr. Director of New Franchise Development

CARROLLTON, Texas, May 16 // PRNewswire // -- Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc., parent company of T.G.I. Friday's® and Pick Up Stix® restaurants, today announced plans to accelerate the development growth of its T.G.I. Friday's franchise partners within the United States, effective immediately.

To facilitate this aggressive growth strategy, the company announced the promotion of Thomas McCord to Senior Director of New Franchise Development. McCord will focus on recruiting new franchisees into the Friday's® restaurant system and will continue to support existing Friday's franchisees with their growth plans. McCord joined Carlson Restaurants Worldwide in 2005 and most recently held the position of director of franchise development. Prior to joining the company, McCord was a seven year development veteran with Yum Brand's Inc.

"Thomas will be responsible for accelerating the growth of our franchise community through the strategic recruitment of a broad base of candidates including diverse partners, management contract owners and joint venture capitalists," said Chris Devlin, senior vice president of development for Carlson Restaurants Worldwide. "Our plan is to accelerate our domestic growth to over 60 restaurants per year by 2010, including both company and franchise expansion. With this appointment and the addition of new prototypes and operating models, the T.G.I. Friday's system will create growth opportunities for current and new team members while broadening market presence."

Friday's is seeking franchisees with significant hospitality experience operating multiple (3+) restaurant locations and the ability and infrastructure to implement an aggressive growth strategy. Although additional markets may be available, Friday's announced the following target markets for potential franchisees: Alabama (Montgomery), Georgia (Savannah, St. Simons Island and Valdosta), Hawaii (Kauai and Maui), Louisiana (multiple markets throughout La.), Mississippi (Jackson and Meridian), Montana (Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls and Missoula), New Mexico (multiple markets available), Oregon (Bend, Eugene, Roseburg and Medford), Texas (El Paso, McAllen, Harlingen, Lerado) and Wyoming (multiple markets available).

For more information on franchising opportunities with T.G.I. Friday's restaurants, visit http://fridays.com/franchise/index.htm.

Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc., the parent company of TGI Friday's Inc., is a privately held company owned by Minneapolis-based Carlson, a world leader in the hospitality, travel and marketing industries. As of May 2007, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide owns, operates, franchises and licenses more than 1,000 restaurants in 55 countries including T.G.I. Friday's®, Friday's Front Row® Sports Grill and Friday's American Bar®. For more information on T.G.I. Friday's visit http://www.fridays.com/.
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SOURCE: TGI Friday's Inc.

CONTACT: Derek Farley of DFPR for TGI Friday's Inc., +1-704-926-6582,
derek@dfpr.com

Web site: http://www.fridays.com/
http://fridays.com/franchise/index.htm