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Thank God, It's Friday!-The Restaurant T.G.I Fridays

Abstract
In this contemporary society, more and more people grab the chance to eat out with so many cuisines from multiple exotic cultures that they can choose from. Today, we want to introduce an American restaurant known as T.G.I.Fridays which is a popular idiom for westerners to the public. In our thesis, we will articulate its origin of name and its thorough history. Then, we will elaborate on its unique interiors which fall into four categories in total. Moreover, we interviewed with the one of the managers in person, asking about what is the contributing factor to its instant success. Furthermore, we gave out some questionnaires to the customers who frequent this restaurant at random. At the next step, we integrated the information we had gathered before, and we can get the full picture of its popularity among the public. Last but not least, we would like to promote this restaurant not only for its wide popularity but also its striving story lying behind it!

Keywords: American restaurants, T.G.I.Fridays, contributing factors

Table of Contents
Abstract -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i Table of Contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii I. Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 II. Methods ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 III. Findings and Discussion---------------------------------------------------------------- 2 III.1. The Origin of Fridays Name -------------------------------------------------- 2 III.2. The History of Fridays -------------------------------------------------------- 3 III.3. Interior Design --------------------------------------------------------------- --3 III.4. Interview with Manager ------------------------------------------------------ --4 III.5. An Analysis of 200-copy Questionnaires----------------------------------- --5 IV. Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8 V. References --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

ii

I. Introduction
With the surging waves of American culture permeating throughout every corner around the world, everything around us seems so American from the prestigious movie industry celebrated as Hollywood to the mouth-watering cuisines characterized by oversized servings and the carefree impression. Speaking of American restaurants, what can exemplify the most prevalent one around the world? Well, the direct answer popping up in our minds is Fridays Restaurant. For this plain reason, we want to explore more information on how it has been taking the world by storm from a little diner of obscurity in the first place. Is it smash hit credited to its fabulous delicacy or to its cozy atmosphere? Then, does its exquisite decorations or waiters attitudes that count? Curious about these questions, we are determined to totally catch on to its legendary success!

II. Method
To complete our report about Thank God, Its Friday!- The Restaurant T.G.I Fridays . We first planned on our visit to the Fridays restaurant in order to observe what the appearance and the building looked like, also tried some iconic cuisine of Fridays. After relishing those delicious dishes, we turned to the manager of the restaurant to ask some details about Fridays. Thanks to the hospitable manager, we could write our report more accurately. Meanwhile, we went to the library to look up some useful information, such as magazines and references concerning how to run a store successfully. Via our whole teams discussion and hard work, we decided the outright contents and our directions. Then, team members commenced to carry out their own parts. During the process of completing this report, we learned a lot, such as team cooperation and individual coordination. Doing the report is a phenomenal experience before we become a college student.

Personal visit to Fridays- one of its braches in Taichung Information searching from the nearby library, magazines, and the Internet

Interview with the manager

Questionnaires given out to people at random

The integration of information we gathered

III. Findings and Discussion

III.1 The origin of Fridays name
Fridays, whose original name is T.G.I Fridays, is stemmed from" Thank Goodness! Its Fridays."(Wikipedia) Its an adage which comes from America. Its initial meaning is that after working hard a whole week, finally, its Friday. That is, it means they dont need to work on weekend. The reason why the company is called this name is they want to make consumers indulge in an atmosphere which is relaxed and neednt worry work. As a result, the proverb has two implications now. One is the former meaning, and the other is that thank God! There is a restaurant called Friday, which can make people relaxed. 2
Figure3.1 The Logo of Fridays Restaurant (Beerstreetjournal, 2011)

III.2 The History of Fridays (Wikipedia)

How was this restaurant founded? Its was established by Alan Stillman in 1965, who was a bachelor perfumes salesman. Leaving in a neighborhood with a lot of flight attendants, fashion models, and some single people, he intended to open a bar to help him meet some single women. But, at that time, his choices for socializing were non-public cocktail parties, or a bar for guys which women usually didnt go there. Thinking that there was no public place for people from twenty-three to twenty-seven to meet, he figured out a solution that could create comfortable cocktail-party atmosphere in public. The whole new restaurant opened on March 15, 1965 was characterized by American cuisine, bar food, and alcoholic beverages. The exterior featured a red-and-white striped awning and blue paint, and the Gay Nineties interior (Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term that refers to the decade of the 1890s.) was inclusive of wooden floors, Bentwood chairs, fake Tiffany lamps, striped tablecloths, and the most imperative bar area added brass rails and stained glass.

III.3 Interior Design

The newer T.G.I. Friday's franchises (as well as redesigned restaurants) are more contemporary, with wallpaper, granite exteriors, and red-and-white striped lamps instead of Tiffany. The exteriors have stucco, the entrance doors have "F" shaped handles, and a metal cup above the door has a stripe saying "In Here, It's always Friday". Most Friday's have a propeller and a rowing scull on display as part of their antiques, which are actually a part of a story told to all Friday's employees; the scull always contains a pair of saddle shoes and a bottle of champagne which are a spiritual sign of Fridays. Why are they so imperative for Fridays? There is a legend about a lady named Myrna, who was a canoe trainer. She led a team which had never won any competitions to triumph a champion. On the day when they gained the victory, Myrna disappeared and was found only her black-and-white striped saddle shoes on the canoe. Nowadays, the reason why they always are put in the store is a reminder the value of teamwork, leadership, and

celebrating success to the employees

3

III.4 Interview with manager(2011.07.30 - 148 )

After having our meal in person there, our group decided to interview with the manager there to get more insight into the restaurant Friday! At first, we talked about the interior decorations. He told us that this store is characterized by its 1950-styled ones, explaining to us that generally speaking, there are four kinds of decoration style throughout the different branches, from the first generation featuring 1950s to fourth generation featuring modern style. Even the floor there is made up of red bricks. Also, its said that after customers enter the each Friday, what they will see is a cupboard which is the necessity for them. Second, he mentioned that some of their ornaments which appear in every branch have specific symbols for them. For example, theres a canoe hanging on the wall with rowing sculls, champagne and a pair of saddle shoes in it reminding employees of the need to be collaborative all the time. The next one is a propeller with some bills stuck to on. Its symbolic of their hope to make their business prosper just like the propeller ready to take off. Another meaningful feature is the bell in the bar on the second floor, which was used to be beaten when the waiters or waitress got tips. The more tips they got, the louder the bell would be. The manager also demonstrated for us! Finally, we discussed their standard to choose 3 the waiter or waitress; according to the manager, there some certain criterions that must be met. Kindness, enthusiasm, extraversion, and talkativeness with customers are the basic requirements for the restaurants staff, and if they have high proficiency in English, they are easier to be hired.( 2008.04.01) In the following, in order to gain some statistics for a proof of an increasing popularity of the Fridays, we made up some questions and formed a questionnaire. After an investigation and an analysis of the main four questions collected in pie graphs, we completed the process as follows step by step. 4
Figure3.4 The Picture of Sanming Branch (Dingok, 2011)

III.5 An Analysis of 200-copy Questionnaires

Our first question is to ask the genders of the customers, and the first pie graph is formed below: Ladies and Gentlemen, We are students studying in TCHCVS, and we have been conducting a research on an American restaurant called Fridays at present. Could you take a few minutes to help us fill out our questionnaires? Thanks for your cooperation and help!
Gender M/F Male 102 (Form1)
Gender

Female 98

49% 51%

Mele Female

(Graph1) Finding 1: We distributed our questionnaires to 200 Fridays customers, containing 102 males and 98 females. Showing the result of our next question how old the customers are, the pie graph next shows the customers, our respondents are aged within ten to more than fifty.
Age Number 10-20 21 20-30 121 (Form2 ) 30-40 27 40-50 18 50 13

Age and customers

9% 13%

7%

11%

10~20 20~30 30~40 40~50 50

60%

( Graph2)

Based on this graph, therefore, the major customers are aged between 20 to 30, which also indicates that the Fridays is popular with the youngsters, followed by customers aged 30 to 40. That is, customers aged 20 to 30 are outnumbered any other age group, in comparison, showing their most frequent visit to our customers and responding to our question earnestly. For that reason, the outcome for the third question how often the customers have been to the restaurant is shown below:
The frequency of patronage Number 97 79 (Form3) 24 5 5-10 10

The frequency of patronage

12%

48%

5 5~10 10

40%

(Graph3) 6

According to the form, most of our respondents have been to the restaurant. It represents the increasing popularity of Fridays will be. The willingness of these customers to go to Fridays again is quite obvious and positive. A frequent visit has been still on the rise up to the number 24. When asked how often our customers had been to Fridays, they presented their motives in the six formsfamily reunions, friend reunions, birthday celebrations, dating with lovers, general meetings and others. The result, through organization, will be as follows:
The purpose you come to Fridays

Family reunion
33

Friend reunion
56

Birthday Dating Meeting celebration with lovers

47 (Form4) 41 9

Others
14

Number

The purpose you come to Fridays

5

5% 21%

7%

17%

Family reunion Friend reunion Birthday celebration Dating with lovers Meeting Others

27% 23%

(Graph4)

This graph signifies that the highest ranking of why customers go to Fridays is for friend reunions, followed by birthday celebrations. The result shows that Fridays fulfills its aim. That is, to provide its customers with joyful and relaxing atmosphere.

IV. Conclusion
After months of efforts and researches, we ultimately finished our thesis. During this process, we feel like harvesting some invaluable experience beyond books. From the very beginning, we often think of Fridays as an ordinary exotic restaurant with high popularity in Taiwan whereas from the moment we embarked on this research, we totally change our perception of it. In our personal visit to one of its branches here in Taichung, after the discussion with the manager, we realized the reason why it can gain such tremendous popularity hinges not only on its impressive treats but its successful marketing strategies as well as its consideration for all the customers. Besides, through our questionnaires, it can be inferred that its a teenager-oriented restaurant. Despite that, it has also been devoted to exploring other potential groups. From this experience, we grasp the concept that what lies behind primarily a prestigious corporation: consistent efforts, well-planned strategies, thoughtful concerns for customers and the decent reputation. Other than this, we also learn how to collaborate with each other in our group, how to eliminate the dissident arising among us, and how to conduct a persuasive thesis, which I think cultivate our capability to handle the adversity in our way. In other words, we are prepared to embrace the challenges in the near future.( 2010.07.10)

V.Reference
1. 2. 3. 4. // / 2008 04 01 /// /2010 07 10 Beerstreetjournal 2012.02.29 http://beerstreetjournal.com/t-g-i-fridays-is-getting-crafty/ T.G.I. Friday's Wikipedia 2011.10.15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.G.I._Friday%27s

5. 2011.10.15 (404
148 )