Abstract
Created in the United States (NYC) in 1965 by Alan Stillman, the company T.G.I. Friday's, meaning "Thank Goodness It's Friday's!" aims to provide a casual dining to their customers. A casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serving at modest prices food in a relaxed atmosphere.
The casual dining segment has emerged as the poster child for recession-era, with symptoms of decrease of the number of customers, sales slumps and bankruptcies. The casual dining industry receives the major part of the traffic and principally attracts people from 18 to 45 years.
The restaurant chain T.G.I. Friday's was acquired by Carlson Companies, Inc. in 1975. International expansion of the firm began in 1986 with the opening of a restaurant in Birmingham, England. Today, the Carlson Company Inc. operates 924 T.G.I. Friday's in 61 countries around the world (T.G.I. Friday's, 2012). The first T.G.I. Friday's Nicosia opened in 1996.
