A rescue deal has saved a TGI Fridays restaurant in Sussex but a second branch closed immediately today (Monday 7 October) with the loss of a couple of dozen jobs.
The deal saved the Crawley Leisure Park branch, in London Road, one of 51 branches to stay open, keeping 2,400 people in jobs.
But the but the Brighton Marina has shut – one of 35 diners to close as Breal Capital and Calveton UK bought the business after the group’s previous British operator fell into administration.
The joint administrators at Teneo said that 35 restaurants were not included in the sale and have been closed immediately, resulting in 1,012 redundancies.
Julie McEwan, chief executive of TGI Fridays UK, said: “The news today marks the start of a positive future for our business following a very challenging period for the casual dining sector as a whole.
“We are devastated for our colleagues who will be leaving TGIs and thank them for their loyalty and contribution during their time with us.
“We are doing everything possible to retain our team and support those impacted.”
Daniel Smith, senior managing director of Teneo, said that the acquisition “preserves a significant proportion of jobs and will hopefully provide the business with the stability and support it needs to recover and grow”.
New private equity owners Breal and Calveton jointly own upmarket restaurant chain D&D London and, between them, have had investments in Byron Burger and wine bar chain Vinoteca.
The companies said that they were “delighted” to be working with the management team to “both modernise the business and capitalise on the heritage of this iconic brand”.
Trade union Unite tweeted that it had been hearing from members who had been “furiously contacting” the hospitality organisers in response to the immediate closures.
It said that staff were shut out of restaurants, with padlocks on the doors changed, or given no form of redundancy consultation, while others were invited to a video call with members of the head office with one hour’s notice.
Other workers said that they had not been told whether or not they would be paid, according to the trade union.
TGI Fridays’ previous British operator, Hostmore, appointed administrators last month and had been hoping to secure a buyer for the chain.
Hostmore said that it was not expecting to “recover any meaningful value” from the sale of its sites, meaning that it would earn less from the sale than it owed to creditors and banks.
The companies did not disclose the value of the sale agreed with Breal and Calveton.
TGI Fridays was founded in New York in 1965 and continues to operate about 130 restaurants in America.
The business has grappled with weaker spending in Britain in recent years and said that it had been affected by a post-covid slowdown in demand across the casual dining sector.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said that TGI Fridays was a brand “wrapped in nostalgia but one the new owners are hyper aware needs to modernise to appeal to today’s diner”.
She said: “Keeping the essence of what made the business successful while finding a new direction won’t be an easy task and the new owners have carved off 35 branches they don’t feel confident taking forward.
“The buyers, Breal Capital and Calveton UK, have a good track record in hospitality and with more than 2,000 jobs saved the brand has a chance to rediscover its mojo.”
