Already an established brand name competing in the UK, Greece, Spain, plus 52 other countries worldwide, T.G.I. Friday's is growing rapidly. Last year the brand opened its 260th location outside the USA, and has 800 restaurants in total across the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. "Our international goal is to be the number one American casual dining brand in every market we enter," reveals EVP and COO, International Steve King. "People in these markets who enjoy American food think T.G.I. Friday's, and they come to our restaurants because of the atmosphere, the fun and the open, informal service style. Our staff have the freedom to express their personalities, which is conducive to our customers relaxing and having a good time."

The first T.G.I. Friday's restaurant was opened in New York in 1965. "T.G.I. Friday's was the first casual dining restaurant chain in the world," says Vice President of International Development Jean Jacquemetton. "It immediately tapped into a market that wasn't developed: the bar/restaurant, which became an after work destination for young professional Americans. The concept has evolved over time to become more of a restaurant and more family friendly, but we still enjoy the highest bar sales of any American casual dining chain."

THE CONCEPT T.G.I. Friday's is an American casual dining concept that combines a bar and restaurant specialising in an American-style menu that includes grill steaks, ribs, seafood, burgers, chicken and TexMex. "We take the familiar items of American dining and add our own unique twist," says Vice President of International Marketing Claudia Schaefer. "The way we develop, present and market those items really brings out the fun. We do accommodate local tastes and social or religious norms, but when we have developed country-specific menu items at the request of a franchisee, they have found that they were outperformed by the American items. There is not the demand to deviate much from the menu. When people go to an Italian restaurant it's because they want to eat Italian food - similarly, when customers visit T.G.I. Friday's, it's because they want to eat American food."

Restaurants typically cover between 400sqm and 500sqm, with the positioning varying from market to market. "In the UK we have stores in very high rent, high traffic areas in London (such as Covent Garden and Haymarket), and also sites in malls on the outskirts of cities, (such as entertainment malls or stand-alone 'pad sites')," reveals King. "In Spain we have just opened in Madrid on a site which was an old cinema on a major downtown thoroughfare. The next Spanish store opens in Madrid in March in an outlet mall on the outskirts of the city. We have the experience to accommodate many different sites, from a 12th century fort in Malta to a four story restaurant in Taiwan.

"Our customer base also differs between countries, depending on the socio-economic level. For example, in the UK we attract a lot of families with children, whereas in other countries we appeal more to singles. As a result, the food and beverage mix is different from country to country, and even city to city. In my experience, you can try to determine the balance, but ultimately the market will dictate the dynamic. "However, the fact that we have a great bar culture will generate more bar sales. An interesting aspect of this is that even in the Middle Eastern countries where we can't sell alcohol, we still have large bar areas that sell non-alcoholic beverages like smoothies, such is the popularity of the concept. We have created a concept that is flexible and can accommodate a very large drink mix generating 40 per cent of sales - which is not typical of our competitors."

HERITAGE When it comes to a track record of success, it's difficult to match that of Carlson Companies. One of the largest privately-held companies in the USA, Carlson Companies was established in 1938 as the Gold Bond Stamp Company offering a trading stamp concept designed to stimulate sales and loyalty for food stores. The group has diversified into hotels, travel, marketing and hospitality, building brands such as Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, SeaMaster Cruises, Wagonlit Travel and T.G.I. Friday's. In 2004 the group reported systemwide sales (including franchises) totalling US$26.1 billion, while sales from the company's owned and operated divisions totalled US$8.4 billion.

INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS T.G.I. Friday's typically enters a new country by signing an Area Development Agreement with a local franchise partner who is capable of establishing and expanding a network of multiple restaurants while maintaining a majority interest in each. "We are not looking for Master Franchisors," explains King. "We want to deal with just one group for a given region, although a larger country can be divided into a number of regions. This doesn't mean the franchisee can't take on minority partners, such as a landlord or someone with specific knowledge of a city."

Adds Jacquemetton: "In our experience, a franchisee has to be willing to develop at least five restaurants because the investment in training is fairly high. We are looking for companies large enough to develop a region or country, and they need to be able to leverage their infrastructure."

"For example, in the UK our franchise partner is Whitbread PLC, which is the UK's leading hospitality company. The company owns leading hospitality brands such as Costa, Beefeater and Premier Travel Inn, and over the last 20 years has built a network of 44 T.G.I. Friday's restaurants. Whitbread was the first international franchisee for T.G.I. Friday's. They saw an opportunity to bring over a concept that was uniquely different from what they did with their existing pub business. They continue to grow and have a strong system in the UK."

Another example of a large company investing in the T.G.I. Friday's Area Development is Grupo VIPS, which signed an agreement covering the whole of Spain in 1990, opening its first restaurant in the Santiago BernabÉu Stadium in Madrid - home of Real Madrid football club. "Grupo VIPS hadn't grown much until last year," reveals King. "The group operates a number of other restaurant concepts and are also in partnership with Starbucks in their market. As a result they focused their resources elsewhere until last year, when we managed to develop the concept into a significantly more attractive deal for them, with a reduced investment cost and limited amount of products needed to be imported from the US. Now Grupo VIPS has opened a second store in Madrid and is planning two more this year, with four more in 2007."

FURTHER EXPANSION In Europe, T.G.I. Friday's is prioritising finding partners in Italy, France, Germany and the Benelux. "We are also actively looking to establish in Denmark, Portugal and Finland, as well as Eastern European markets such as Romania and Bulgaria," points out Jacquemetton. "We are in every other country in Europe. We are established in Iceland, Malta, Cyprus, have a large presence in Scandinavia and the UK, are expanding rapidly in Spain, and doubled the number of stores in Greece last year (where we are about to open our eighth).

"Further afield we have 10 restaurants established in Moscow, where we cater to the local market. We are in the midst of penetrating China with a corporate presence and franchisees, but there's still some open territory there, and we want to grow in Canada more aggressively. We are in a rapid expansion mode in the Middle East, where we've been developing since 1991. We have a total of 12 in the Middle East including Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia, and this year we will add five to six restaurants, including our first in Bahrain."

King asserts the importance of finding real estate for the success of any franchise venture. "You can pay for exposure in one of two ways - either in terms of real estate, or through marketing and the media," he reflects. "Our experience is that in the early going it is extremely important to get the right real estate - you have to be in a place with a lot of visibility and a lot of traffic so that you're seen in a big way. In Europe especially this can be very expensive, but there are a lot of countries where we've proven we can penetrate despite high costs. If we can put restaurants in Tokyo, we can put them anywhere."

SUPPORT The size and international spread of the T.G.I. Friday's network has enabled the brand to build an international management team that is able to provide comprehensive support to international franchise partners. "We have an experienced team of people that have been drawn from around the world," reveals Jacquemetton. "I was born in France and speak three languages. We also have staff drawn from Mexico, Pakistan, Taiwan and the UK, as well as the USA. Being part of the company is being part of a multi-national, multi-cultural experience."

European franchise partners benefit from the experience of Regional Development Director Michael Beecham, who helps analyse markets, identify sub-markets within a city, assess a city's potential for restaurant development, and prioritise different areas within the city. "As sites become available Michael will return to look at the specifics of the site, such as location dynamics and signage," adds Jacquemetton. "He will then help put together a business pro forma, a layout and advise partners how best to manage the costs of the development."

Ongoing support includes provision of marketing materials, which are designed specifically for each market but keep to the brand strengths of the world network. "We design the menu layout, and also help with sourcing issues to make sure that the menu and products conform to our standards," reveals Schaefer. "We are also committed to constant research and development of new menu items and promotions, and generally produce five or six per year. The franchisees will then decide what is appropriate to use in their markets depending on the time of year, weather and market dynamics."

A critical factor is training support, which is how T.G.I. Friday's ensures its brand values, customer service levels and atmosphere are recreated in every market. "We provide a lot of training at different levels," reports King. "There are workshops for each management position, as well as orientation and best practice seminars for owners. The restaurant managers are provided with a 14 week programme, and when we open a restaurant we send in a team of 12 trainers who hire the staff, train them two weeks prior to opening and stay on for another two weeks. Eventually, through this system, a franchisee becomes self-sufficient."

Jacquemetton observes: "The interesting thing about being in 55 countries is that there are things you learn which become applicable in other countries. For example, in the USA we've been developing an initiative called Quantum Leap - reducing labour and increasing efficiency in the back of house. The motivation is to improve quality, throughput and efficiency in the USA, but this translates to Europe where the major difficulty is in the higher labour costs."

"This is also the case in Japan, where we have 10 restaurants in the Tokyo area. There we have developed some of the smallest kitchens in our system. The efficiency that they have to achieve because of high real estate and labour costs is something that can be exported to Europe."

AREA DEVELOPMENT FRANCHISEES T.G.I. Friday's has identified its preferred franchisee candidates as companies with the ability to launch at least five restaurants, and with a background in the hospitality industry. "They need not be in the restaurant industry already," points out King. "A company in the hotel business, or in bars or clubs, would understand the mentality of dealing with customers. The hospitality business is hard work, but there's no reason why you can't work hard and have fun. We work very hard at creating a culture of hospitality, and rewarding employees for their hospitality.

"For example when we send a new store opening team, they will be a blend of both corporate and franchise employees who have been validated. This gives our franchisees' employees a chance to develop deeper skills as well as travel. "We promote opportunities to staff across the worldwide network. Some of the people on our corporate team previously worked for franchisees, and have graduated to a more regional or worldwide role. For example, we have a training manager based in the UK - Martina Lichorobiecova - who used to work for our Russian franchisee. She is now in charge of training for Europe and the Middle East."

King adds: "We believe that the brand is delivered through people. We provide extensive training and resources, but the franchisee's attitude is vital. We look at how they approach their human resources, and the ability to see eye to eye with us is a critical factor to their becoming a franchisee. We think that's why we are the number one casual dining player in the world."