At first sight, the T.G.I. Friday’s seems to be a place for casual dining. However, this is a worldwide famous chain of restaurants where the employees create the atmosphere of “eternal Friday”. The staff of the restaurant makes it memorable and recognized. From some points of view it can be called not only a good restaurant but a theatre as well.
The T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant was founded in 1965 as a part of Carlson Companies. In the 1980s T.G.I. appeared in the UK and started spreading in Europe. Its cocktail-twizzling bar staff and vast portions proved a huge hit for more than a decade, benefiting from the lack of sophisticated rivals in Britain town canters(Armitage 2006). When T.G.I. Friday’s first opened, it had a wooden floor, Tiffany lamps, and striped cloths inside. Everything here was done in the authentic American style. There was even a full-time antique ‘picker’, whose job was to find suitable elements for the interior at all possible auctions and flea markets. Its unique décor transforms a simple restaurant into a theatrical stage. Nowadays this décor is recognized in many countries, as it is remarkably similar in the T.G.I. restaurants all over the world. The interior of this chain of restaurants creates the atmosphere of the American diner.
The quality of the food is one of the basic elements of the company’s philosophy (Palmer 2011). Each of the T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants offer about 100 American-Mexican traditional dishes and the same number of drinks. T.G.I. is perfect for people who love burgers and other unpretentious dishes, but do not like to mix with the din-din degenerates who hang out in less salubrious fest food joints (Sunday Mercury 26 July 2009, p.38).
The T.G.I. Friday’s also became famous for the eccentric stuff-interviewing procedures (Armitage 2006). They tested not only the communication skills of the potential employees but their artistic skills as well. In T.G.I. restaurants the employees’ performance includes the ability to do everything possible to produce the best impression on the customer. The waiters must be able to match with clients’ emotions and feelings besides the general greeting, seating, and servicing.
The T.G.I. Friday’s has a history of fifty years, during this time it managed to ‘win the hearts of millions of customers all over the world. This chain of restaurants has won numerous awards as the best employer, one of the best workplaces in the UK, and the most fun place to work according to the Financial Times. The T.G.I. Friday’s is one of the most popular restaurants in the world. It is always full of clients of all age groups from teenagers to elderly people. They come here to eat, have fun or even to celebrate the hen night party (Lynch 1998).
Richard Snead, president and chief executive officer of Carlson Restaurant Worldwide, the parent company of T.G.I. Friday’s, formulated the credo of the restaurant ‘to treat every customer as we would an honored guest in our home, and it is reflected in everything we do’. However, some customers think that the price for this hospitality is too high. Many negative reviews can be found in magazines or the Internet but T.G.I. Friday’s still stays one of the most popular places to go in the world.
References
Armitage, J. 2006, ‘TGI Friday’s Up for Sale as Diners Stay Away’, The Evening Standard , p. 41.
Lynch, F. 1998, ‘It’s Friday Fun Every Night; the Weekend starts Every Night at TGI Fridays, Finole Lynch Discovers’, The Birmingham Post, p. 45.
Palmer, A. 2011, ‘Principles of Services Marketing’, Mc Graw-Hill, New York, pp. 46-86.