TGI Fridays Signs Its First U.S. Development Deal in Over a Decade, Bringing Five New Restaurants to New York
Sixty-one years after TGI Fridays opened its very first restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the casual dining chain is heading back to where it all started, and this time, it’s bringing a real expansion plan with it.
On September 29, TGI Fridays announced its first U.S. domestic development agreement in more than a decade. The deal brings franchisee Bliss Bites LLC into the fold to open five new Fridays restaurants across New York State, alongside an acquisition of one of the chain’s two existing Long Island locations.
For a brand that’s spent recent years growing almost entirely overseas, a homegrown American deal is a notable shift in direction, and one worth understanding in full.
A Homecoming, of Sorts
TGI Fridays didn’t start as the casual dining chain most Americans know today. According to the company’s own release, Fridays opened its first location in 1965 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side as what was essentially the country’s first singles bar, a concept nobody else in New York was doing at the time.
That original restaurant closed decades ago, but the symbolism of the brand’s newest U.S. growth plan landing in New York, the same state where it all began, isn’t lost on anyone paying attention to the announcement.
Under the new agreement, Bliss Bites LLC will develop five new Fridays restaurants across New York State over the next three years. The company is also acquiring Fridays’ existing restaurant in Central Islip, New York, bringing its total New York portfolio to six locations once the deal closes.
That’s a meaningful commitment from a single franchise group, and it’s why TGI Fridays is calling this deal significant enough to headline as its first U.S. development agreement in more than 10 years.
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Who’s Behind the Deal
Bliss Bites LLC is led by Vinod Chand, owner and managing director. Per the company’s release, Chand brings more than 35 years of hospitality experience to the partnership, the kind of operational background TGI Fridays has been specifically seeking as it works to rebuild its domestic footprint after a rocky stretch that included a 2024 bankruptcy filing.
TGI Fridays COO Ashley Kirkley spoke directly to what the company is looking for in partners like Bliss Bites. “Growth only matters when it’s built with the right partners, and this five-restaurant development agreement is exactly what we envisioned for our ‘1-2-3 Strategic Vision,’” Kirkley said.
She added that the company is focused on bringing in passionate franchisees, building in markets where the brand genuinely belongs, and creating restaurants that deliver the energy and hospitality guests expect from Fridays.
What the “1-2-3 Strategic Vision” Actually Means
That phrase, the 1-2-3 Strategic Vision, isn’t just a marketing tagline. According to the company’s own materials, it’s TGI Fridays’ roadmap to reach more than 1,000 restaurants and $2 billion in annual revenue by 2030. The Bliss Bites agreement is being positioned as an early, tangible proof point that the plan is taking shape on U.S. soil, rather than remaining an abstract growth target on a slide deck.
It’s also worth understanding the scale TGI Fridays is working from right now. Per Nation’s Restaurant News, the chain currently operates close to 400 restaurants across roughly 40 countries, a noticeably smaller global footprint than it held at its peak.
Since January of this year, the company has added more than 150 restaurants to its overall portfolio, but that growth has been concentrated almost entirely overseas, with new franchise agreements in markets including Kenya, the Maldives, Peru, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Just weeks before the New York announcement, Fridays also signed its first-ever development deal for the Balkans region.
Set against that backdrop, a domestic U.S. deal reads differently than it might have a few years ago. It’s not simply another location opening. It signals that the company sees renewed opportunity in the American market it was originally built around, not just in the international markets that have driven most of its recent growth.
Why New York, Specifically
There’s a practical logic to starting the U.S. comeback in New York rather than elsewhere. TGI Fridays currently has just two restaurants operating in the entire state, a small number for a brand with such deep roots there.
That leaves considerable room to grow without competing against an already saturated footprint, and it lets the company rebuild in the market most closely tied to its origin story.
Kirkley’s statement leaned into that framing directly, noting that Fridays is bringing in franchisees to build in markets where the brand belongs. New York, as the birthplace of the entire concept, fits that description about as literally as any market could.
What Comes Next
The five new restaurants are expected to open gradually over the next three years, alongside the already-completed acquisition of the Central Islip location. For TGI Fridays, the real test isn’t the signing of this one agreement.
It’s whether this domestic deal marks the start of a broader pattern of U.S. growth, or whether international markets continue to do most of the heavy lifting toward that 1,000-restaurant, $2 billion goal.
For now, though, the headline is straightforward: a brand that hasn’t signed a new U.S. development deal in over a decade just did, and it chose to do it in the same state where the entire concept began 61 years ago.
