Friday marks the end of the workweek and school week, the day before the week’s two days of rest commences. Friday is also payday in some establishments, and indeed many malls and shopping centers often schedule their sales on this day of the week.
Friday is also the day of the week when you can finally party. You don’t need to wake up early the next day, and you can lounge in bed until late in the morning until you’ve had your fill of sleep.
Perhaps that’s one reason why the popular American bar and restaurant TGI Friday’s, according to Newsweek and Saturday Evening Post, heralded the dawn of the singles era when it first opened in 1965 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Indeed, by 1975, the restaurant took the US by storm with restaurants in eight states. By 1986, the first international Friday’s opened in Birmingham, England. Now, there are over 600 Friday’s around the world, with six in Metro Manila, the first having opened in 1994.
It’s been 40 years since the first Friday’s opened. And to mark this milestone, the American bistro and bar is updating its vintage Americana look to a nostalgic remembrance of pop culture from the Sixties to the Nineties. The new look is part of its effort to make the restaurant hip for today’s 20-something crowd of diners.
Bistro Group of Restaurants marketing director Lisa Ronquillo says Friday’s main market belongs to the 21-to-35 age group. Most of these diners were born in the ’70s, have no memory of the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, and may consider its vintage look rather dated.
The first obvious change in the Friday’s look is the new typeface in its logo. The old carousel typeface has been updated with a new big, bold typeface, while the red diagonal stripes that fill the logo now use a darker hue, and have been proportioned to fill the logo.
The new Friday’s exterior also does away with the old Barnum & Bailey blue-and-yellow carousel channel letters and short, backlit awnings with wide red and white stripes. Instead, the new exterior has a large, modern entry tower highlighted with stone and metal accents. The canvas awnings are now also taller, with narrow red and white stripes.
Inside, the old Tiffany lamps, brass railings and vintage ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s décor have been replaced with contemporary light fixtures, stainless steel railings and décor themes that depict the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Here, you will see references to such popular TV shows and films as Rocky, Animal House, Saturday Night Fever, Levi’s and Pepsi, Star Wars, and many more.
When you enter the restaurant, you will notice that the lighting is much brighter, replacing the soft and indirect lighting of old. The old homey wood-colored walls have been changed to a smooth black matte finish. Light fixtures are now pendants in solid red or red and white swirls. There are also star lights, round-shaped light fixtures with a star motif at its center, as well as crisp white halogen lamps. The old ceiling fans have been changed to a mirror ball; its reflected light echoes the movement of light and air inside the restaurant, as well as serving as reference to the disco years of the ’70s.
Over at the bar, the old TV sets have been replaced with flat screen TVs. All the TVs in the old Friday’s restaurants will be removed under the new look; the only TVs will be at the bar area. Likewise, the only reference to the old stained-glass Tiffany lamps will be the colored glass ceiling over the bar.
Other décor highlights at the new Friday’s branch include:
• The astronaut, a 36-inch-tall figure, celebrating the MTV generation of the ’80s. The astronaut served as the icon of MTV.
• The blue marlin has been retained as an American sporting icon, its arched form indicating motion. It is positioned on a main wall of the restaurant as if it were leaping out of the water.
• The propeller is a bar icon, which symbolizes the engine of business. Spanning five feet, it is integral to the bar décor.
• The Friday’s surfboard replaces the old racing scull in smaller restaurants. It is near the album wall or is hung near the astronaut.
• The album wall is an entire wall papered with music album covers from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. It is situated near the bar area.
• A number of musical instruments are also used as décor in the new Friday’s look. Instruments include guitars, either electric or acoustic, drums, and an electric keyboard.
The entire restaurant is also papered with special designs. There is a predominance of graffiti wallpaper throughout the restaurant, listing down quotations from each era.
An entire wall at the "al fresco" indoor dining area has a black-and-white street scene depicting a night out in downtown Manhattan during the late ’60s with a Friday’s outlet at the center of the image. There are also a number of graffiti graphics throughout the restaurant, including a New York City panel, a star panel with Stetson cowboy hats, a "Liberty" panel consisting of the upper body of the Statue of Liberty, and a red panel of bold images in red including a red neon sign with the word "motel."
Ronquillo says the implementation of the Friday’s new look at the Robinsons Galleria, which opens today, is part of a global effort for Friday’s restaurants to adopt the new look. Friday’s in the mainland US has already started the change, and all branches will have converted to the new look by the end of 2008. International franchises do not have a deadline for the change, but Bistro Group, which holds the Friday’s franchise in the Philippines, will be gradually phasing in the new change in all its other branches. The next branch to get the facelift will be Friday’s at Robinsons Place Ermita, which will be undergoing renovation in July 2007.
And even though the restaurant’s whole look is new, guests are always assured of the familiar food they have come to expect from every Friday’s, including popular appetizers such as Three-for-All, fried mozzarella, loaded potato skins, Buffalo wings, and classics like chicken fingers, Pacific grilled pork chops, a selection of burgers, fresh salads, and desserts in king-sized portions, as well as the friendly and efficient service it is known for. At Friday’s, guests are always assured of the "great food and good times" dining experience Friday’s is known for worldwide.
TGI Friday’s has branches at Glorietta 3, Ayala Center, Makati City; Robinsons Place Ermita; Alabang Town Center; Hotel Rembrandt, Quezon City; Brickroad, Sta. Lucia East Grandmall; and Robinsons Galleria.