‘Over the top and fun:’ TGI Fridays boss insists time is right for a UK revival | Hospitality industry

“I Maybe I’m a bit crazy,” admits Ray Blanchette, former culinary manager at TGI Fridays, who is taking on the task of revitalizing the bar-restaurant chain’s UK business in the face of stiff industry headwinds.

Blanchette’s family investment company, Sugarloaf, rescued the Dallas-based parent business from administration in 2025. It then took over its UK arm in January after the local franchisee fell into difficulty, retaining 33 UK restaurants but closing 16 with the loss of 456 jobs.

As British restaurants and cafes struggle with rising staff, energy and food costs, the number of eateries shunning dining out has also fallen as households’ spare cash is squeezed by similar forces. Increases in taxes, including employers’ national insurance contributions and business rates, have compounded the pain.

But Blanchette says he believes TGI, which has 420 restaurants in 42 countries, can regain its excitement in the UK and expand to 1,000 stores worldwide. “We have enough history and heritage to build from,” he says.

The chain was founded by restaurateur Alan Stillman in New York in 1965 as the world’s first casual cocktail bar and restaurant. From the Philippines to Peru, the majority of restaurants are now run by franchisees.

TGI is known for its red and white stripes, vintage paraphernalia-filled décor, and all-American cuisine, from burgers to Kansas-style beef ribs to Texas mixed grills.

The UK has had a turbulent history since its heyday in the 1990s; Blanchette’s rescue deal comes less than 18 months after it was bought out of administration by two private equity firms, Calveton UK and Breal Capital, which own luxury restaurants including Le Pont de la Tour, Quaglino’s and Coq d’Argent. This agreement included the closure of approximately 35 restaurants.

Blanchette’s investment company now controls TGI’s global master franchise, and its Sugarloaf Hospitality business directly manages 11 US outlets and UK restaurants.

“My company has no private equity investment; it is a family business, it is my business and I bought it [TGI] intend [for us] “We will own it for the next 100 years,” he says, adding that he will make decisions “from a long-term perspective” rather than just chasing short-term profit.

Blanchette, who started working in the kitchens of a TGI restaurant in Philadelphia in 1989, rose to the company’s president before leaving in 2014 to work at chains such as Au Bon Pain and Ruby Tuesday.

But TGI pulled him back: He returned to run it for five years through 2023, and two years later secured the master franchise for the U.S. business and 11 restaurants after entering Chapter 11, a bankruptcy process.

“I know this brand is important in the UK,” he says, speaking at TGI’s Birmingham restaurant.

When Blanchette took on the British job, she realized some of the work was underfunded. 14 sites, almost half of the existing chain, had no heating and other outlets had non-functioning refrigerators.

As well as regular maintenance bills, Blanchette says it has now invested more than £2.5 million in refurbishing restaurants and kitchen suites, including updating memorabilia and developing coaches to train staff.

He says that in the UK in the 1990s, TGI was a “brand with a good reputation and well deserved” for its lively bar-restaurants where cocktail waitresses could mix drinks with panache.

But he claims that under the new owners the menu has become too expensive, little has been invested in the restaurants and staff training has been cancelled, so “everything is starting to get watered down”.

“We saw that restaurants were in terrible shape,” he says. “It’s settled now.”

Blanchette believes a turnaround is possible after claiming to have read every single one of the hundreds of thousands of Google and Yelp reviews about TGI’s operations in the UK. “We’re going back to what people expect from us. It’s meant to be a little over-the-top and fun,” he says.

Chefs have been retrained to cook the new menu from scratch and a two-course plus drinks value menu costing £12.49 has been introduced, as well as more affordable appetizers and sharing plates to be enjoyed alongside drinks.

“I don’t know how some appetizers, some margaritas and Long Island iced teas can go out of fashion,” he says.

But Blanchette also gives voice to many British bosses who have criticized the government over costs, describing the current tax regime for high street businesses as “problematic” and arguing it is hindering growth.

Hospitality is one of the UK’s biggest employers so it is hopeful for change. “Eventually the government will realize this, or it will suffer tremendously. It will make people come to London to see these places and they won’t have anywhere to eat.”

TGI is unlikely to open any more restaurants in the UK next year, unless a site opens in London, where it once had lively venues in Covent Garden and Piccadilly.

“I definitely want to expand, but there are things to do first,” says Blanchette. “We are looking through the windshield, not the rearview mirror. This has nothing to do with going back to the 90s.”

He says that even if families are in a difficult financial situation, they still want to eat out and be treated. “If you get a warm welcome at a restaurant, you relax and say, ‘let’s have some fun’.”