TGI Fridays closes 50 more locations ahead of rumored bankruptcy filing
American-themed diner chain TGI Fridays has abruptly closed 50 more locations as it reportedly prepares to file for bankruptcy.
As of Monday, TGI Fridays had 164 restaurants on its store locator, which is down from 213 operating last week, according to CNN.
The exact locations that shuttered were not announced, but local media outlets reported closures in states including California, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Missouri.
TFI Fridays has now totally left the cities of Buffalo, New York, and Columbus, Ohio.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Metro.
TFI Fridays’ latest wave of closures came about a week after Bloomberg reported that it is preparing to file for bankruptcy.
The casual dining chain is speaking with lenders and seeking a loan to help it keep running its remaining restaurants under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, sources told the news outlet. It hopes to come out of it as an operating company.
TGI Fridays ‘will likely use Chapter 11 to seek a buyer for some portion of its business, to reject leases for unprofitable locations and to restructure its debt so it can emerge from bankruptcy with a smaller but still viable footprint,’ Debtwire head John Bringardner told CNN.
Ropes & Gray LLP is reportedly in talks with TGI Fridays.
The latest closures come after the chain shuttered a dozen locations in the US over the course of a month. The affected locations were in Clifton Park, Middletown and Poughkeepsie in New York; Edina and St Louis Park in Minnesota; Enfield, Connecticut; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Leesburg, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Saginaw Township, Michigan; Schererville, Indiana; and Grand Chute, Wisconsin.
And earlier this month, Breal Capital and Calveton reached a deal to purchase 51 TGI Fridays in the UK but did not including 35 locations, causing them to close.
The 50 closures are the most since TGI Fridays ended operations at 36 of its ‘underperforming’ locations in the US in January.
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