NEW YORK — Nearly 50 locations of TGI Fridays abruptly closed within the past week, an ominous sign for the chain as a reported bankruptcy looms. According to TGI Fridays’ store locator , the chain has 164 restaurants remaining as of Monday — a sharp decline from the 213 that were open last week. It’s the largest number of closures since January, when 36 “underperforming” locations were closed.
TGI Fridays didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the closures, and a list of the affected locations was not released. About 50 TGI Fridays locations closed within the past week. Lynne Cameron/PA/AP via CNN Newsource However, reports from local media reveals that restaurants across several U.
S. states were affected, including California, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Missouri. Some closures even marked a complete exit from a city, notably in Columbus, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York.
At the beginning of the year, TGI Fridays had 270 U.S. locations.
Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts The closures come amid reports that TGI Fridays is about to file for bankruptcy. A few weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that the chain is “huddling with lenders” for a cash infusion to keep it operating while it navigates the Chapter 11 process. TGI Fridays “will likely use Chapter 11 to seek a buyer for some portion of its business, to reject leases for unprofitable location.
