Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Tex., is a global restaurant company.
Carlson Restaurants is divided into three divisions – T.G.I. Friday’s U.S.A. (T.G.I. Friday’s, Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill and Friday’s American BarÒ); T.G.I. Friday’s International (T.G.I. Friday’s®, Friday’s American Bar® and Front Row® Sports Grill); and Pick Up Stix, a leader in the fast-casual segment. As of December 30, 2003 Carlson Restaurants, which is included in the Carlson Hospitality Worldwide division of Carlson Companies, Inc., operates, franchises and licenses 825 restaurants in 55 countries.
The company’s roots date back 38 years to the opening of the first T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in New York on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Since then, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide has reached more than $2 billion in systemwide sales.
T.G.I. Friday’s
T.G.I. Friday’s, credited as being the first American casual dining chain, has become a favorite pastime for millions of guests since 1965. The first T.G.I. Friday’s was located at First Avenue and 63rd Street in New York City and featured red and white awnings, a blue-exterior and its name – T.G.I. Friday’s. Inside, the décor glowed with wooden floors, Tiffany-style lamps, bentwood chairs and red-and-white stripes. The bar area, with its brass rails and stained glass, contributed to the ambiance.
T.G.I. Friday’s is a leader in the industry in innovation, not only in creating a unique atmosphere, but in food and beverage presentation as well. T.G.I. Friday’s has popularized many items, including potato skins and frozen drinks. Staying on top of current trends, Friday’s® offers a wide selection of appetizers, entrée salads, pasta dishes and innovative entrées such as Friday's Jack Daniel's® Grill.
Realizing that an important part of a restaurant’s appeal is its atmosphere, T.G.I. Friday’s offers a comfortable, relaxing environment in which guests can truly enjoy quality food and drink.
As of December 30, 2003 there were 527 Friday’s brands located in the United States, with a total of 735 operating around the world.
Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill
Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill was designed to combine two of America’s greatest loves – food and sports – in one location. Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill’s appeal extends to many people – children, women, men, singles and families alike, and is a popular gathering place for great food, good times and non-stop games and activities. Designed for major markets, the Front Row combines a complete entertainment and dining experience in a single location that is a true destination point.
One of the ideas that makes Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill unique to its category is its full menu and its extensive beverage selection. In May 1995, the largest Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill, measuring nearly 23,000 square-feet, opened in Orlando. In September of 1997, the first international Front Row opened in Jakarta, Indonesia and in March 1998, a Front Row opened at Bank One Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The most recent Front Row opened in March 2001 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisc.
The menu at Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill ranges from Dugout Nachos to Jack Daniel’s® Ribs. For the beverage selection, Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill offers over 20 domestic, import and specialty beers on tap, as well as bottled beers from around the world, along with a wide selection of wines, liquors and non-alcoholic beverages.
Adorning the walls of each Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill are pieces of sports memorabilia, recalling the glory days of some of America’s favorite pastimes. For sports entertainment pleasure, each Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill maintains state-of-the-art technology with multiple television screens so each guest can enjoy a variety of sporting events from the best seat in the house, which is any seat in the restaurant. Other attractions at Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill include an assortment of games for adults and children ranging from billiards, video and boardwalk games, to interactive television.
Friday’s American Bar
Friday’s American Bar was designed to be a small neighborhood corner bar providing a social gathering place for people to enjoy themselves with food and drink. The atmosphere is uniquely American – casual and fun, with great drinks, food and music.
Friday’s American Bar’s beverage menu includes an extensive range of alcoholic, non-alcoholic, coffee and specialty drinks, which are presented with the flair of a classic T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant by the best bartenders in the world.
The food menu at Friday’s American Bar includes Friday’s original Loaded Potato Skins, Chicken Fingers, and of course, Friday’s great hamburgers, as well as some local favorites.
Pick Up Stix
The first full-service restaurant, Stix, opened in 1989 in Laguna Niguel, California. The concept was developed around the idea of taking the best traditional Chinese food and adapting it to American tastes by reducing the oils and adding wine, vinegar and soy sauce to create more flavorful Chinese food. The restaurant uses only the highest quality ingredients in their dishes, and all the food is fresh and cooked to order. The restaurant atmosphere is modern and Americanized and includes an open kitchen that is visible to all guests.
After realizing that a large percentage of sales at Stix was take-out business, a new concept that focuses on the fast-casual take-out business was created – Pick Up Stix. The focus continues to be on fresh, high quality food cooked to order and served in a friendly, comfortable environment. The open style kitchen showcases the fresh ingredients and the way the food is prepared. The exhibition kitchens treat guests to a show of the art of Chinese cooking as they watch their dish being prepared to order.
Pick Up Stix offers a wide variety of great tasting, high quality, Americanized-Chinese food that is wok’d fresh. No MSG is used in the preparation of the food, and reduced volumes of oil and sodium are used in the recipes, creating a lighter and healthier taste. The food is cooked after the order is placed, with an average lapse time of seven to ten minutes. The most popular item on the menu is the House Special Chicken.
Other popular entrées include Sweet and Sour Chicken, Beef and Broccoli and Teriyaki Vegetable Bowl, and appetizers include the highly popular Cream Cheese Wontons.
Demanding continuity and product excellence, Charlie Zhang, founder of Pick Up Stix, developed a 33,000 square-foot facility where all food products are prepared. The USDA federally approves and inspects how the commissary prepares meats, sauces, vegetables and seafood for all Pick Up Stix restaurants. The company warehouse and distribution arm, Cal-Int Foods, Inc., ships required products to restaurants several times each week, ensuring the freshest products available.
As of December 30, 2003 there were 89 Pick Up Stix restaurants located in California, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois.
Leadership
Richard Snead, president and CEO, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide
Mike Archer, executive vice president and COO, T.G.I. Friday’s U.S.A.
Jeff Warne, executive vice president and COO, International
Tim Pulido, president and COO, Pick Up Stix
