TGI Fridays has completed the sale of six restaurants in China to an existing Southeast Asia franchisee, as the casual-dining chain continues its refranchising efforts, the company said last week.
The Carrollton, Texas-based chain said it had sold the units, located in Beijing and Shanghai, to Chaswood Resources Group, which operates 20 TGI Fridays restaurants in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The deal was completed on April 20, the companies said.
As part of the deal, Chaswood has committed to developing 10 new Fridays restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing, in addition to four new restaurants it had previously agreed to develop in Shenzhen.
In addition, Chaswood committed to invest in the existing Beijing restaurants by updating them to the latest Fridays design.
“We are thrilled to increase our investment in TGI Fridays by bringing these key locations to the Chaswood family,” Andrew Reddy, managing director of Chaswood Resources Group, said in a statement. “Over the years, we have established deep roots in Southeast Asia and look forward expanding our presence to China through this acquisition and the new TGI Fridays locations we will be adding.”
Ian Saunders, president and chief operating officer of TGI Fridays International, said Chaswood was “a long-standing partner of ours in the Southeast Asia region and [has] a deep knowledge and understanding of the TGI Fridays brand.”
Saunders added that China is a key market for TGI Fridays.
“We look forward to partnering with additional franchisees in other territories to build on the exciting opportunities this market presents,” he said.
Chaswood Resources Group, which is publicly traded on the Singapore stock market, operates nine other restaurant brands in Southeast Asia besides TGI Fridays, including The Apartment, Baci, Bulgogi Brothers, Italiannies, Laundry, Malones, Paradise Dynasty, Malones, Teh Tarik Place and Watami.
Fridays has emphasized refranchising in the wake of Carlson’s sale of the 900-unit brand last summer.
TGI Fridays has restaurants in nearly 60 nations.
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