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TGI Fridays launches new lunch menuTGI Fridays launches new lunch menu

Casual-dining chain urges customers to 'make lunch count'

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

April 12, 2016

3 Min Read
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TGI Fridays lunch

TGI Fridays has rolled out a new lunch menu at participating restaurants in its 490-unit domestic system, the Dallas, Texas-based company said Monday.

The new menu, which includes “On the Double” lunch pairing options, is intended to encourage consumers to go out for lunch rather than eat at their desks. The effort is supported by the chain’s declaration of April 13 as National Make Lunch Count Day. Starting that day, and for the next 10 days, customers who post about their lunch out using the hashtag #NationalMakeLunchCountDay will be eligible to win a $25 electronic gift card. Ten cards will be awarded each day, TGI Fridays said.

“With the 24/7 connectivity today in corporate America, somehow the lunch hour has been left behind,” TGI Fridays chief marketing officer Brian Gies said in a press release. “Fridays has always been a place where co-workers can connect, socialize and decompress over great food and drinks. We want to remind people that taking this time to recharge is important.”

New sandwiches and beverages include:

Truffle Stacked Burger: A four-cheese blend (mozzarella, Monterey Jack, provolone and sharp white Cheddar) with truffle oil, onion-bacon jam and Asiago cheese between two burger patties, topped with truffle aïoli and applewood smoked bacon

Mediterranean Mahi Mahi Naan’Wich: Grilled mahi mahi with balsamic glaze on naan bread, with cucumber yogurt sauce, balsamic-glazed onions, garlic, basil and Roma tomato bruschetta blend, and mixed greens with kale

California Chicken Club: Grilled chicken breast, chilled, sliced and served on a toasted baguette with bacon, smoked gouda, chopped romaine lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and yogurt aïoli

Green with Passion smoothie: Mango and passion fruit purees blended with agave sour mix and kale

Poppin’ Boba: Zico Coconut Water blended with agave, lime juice, lemon juice and strawberry or mango boba pearls

Cherry Limeade Slush: Lemonade, maraschino cherries and agave sour mix over slush ice

Paradise Punch: Orange juice, pineapple juice and guava purée

Tickle Pink: Ruby red grapefruit juice, guava purée and soda water

TGI Fridays sandwich

The On The Double pairings allow customers to choose from mozzarella sticks, house salad, Caesar salad or soup, along with selected lunch-sized entrées, priced at $6.99 to $8.99, and offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For $6.99 they can have one of those appetizers along with an Italian Pretzel Grinder stuffed with pepperoni, grilled chicken and provolone; half a BLT & Avocado sandwich on a baguette; a Strawberry Fields Salad with chicken, goat cheese, glazed pecans and balsamic vinaigrette; or Bruschetta Pasta Pomodoro, which is fettuccine, garlic and basil tomato sauce, and balsamic glaze.

The $7.99 options are half a California Chicken Club with bacon, avocado and yogurt aïoli; a Chipotle Yucatan Chicken Salad with avocado vinaigrette; Smoked Sausage Mac & Cheese; or Chicken & Bacon Mac & Cheese.

The $8.99 options are Jack Daniels rib sliders with provolone, spicy chicken sliders with ghost pepper honey, Cajun Chicken Pasta with spicy Alfredo sauce, and a grilled chicken Caesar salad.

Correction: April 13, 2016 This story has been corrected to reflect that TGI Fridays is headquartered in Dallas.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
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Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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