Dallas-based TGI Fridays says it has an agreement with a real estate developer to build 75 new restaurants in South and Southeast Asia in what the restaurant chain describes as its biggest global deal to date.
The casual restaurant company said Friday that it expects the 10-year deal with Singapore-based Universal Success Enterprises Ltd. to boost its annual revenue by $500 million.
Prasoon Mukherjee, chairman of Universal Success Enterprises, said in a statement that he’s thrilled to bring the established brand to South Asian consumers.
“Personally, I began my restaurant career with TGI Fridays over 30 years (ago) as a kitchen manager,” said Mukherjee, who founded the company in 2000. His firm is now one of the largest real estate developers in eastern India with more than 10 million square feet of properties.
The development deal is core to TGI Fridays’ planned expansion internationally, where the casual restaurant category continues to grow. TGI Fridays’ portfolio of 700 locations includes 385 franchised restaurants in 52 countries, including 22 new locations opening this year.
Universal Success Enterprises brings a track record in the restaurant industry in Asia to the deal, developing three TGI Fridays locations in India and previously introducing Outback Steakhouse to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
TGI Fridays said its same-store sales globally are growing at an average of 23% a year. South and Southeast Asia are seen as a particularly rich opportunity for U.S. brands.
Earlier this year, TGI Friday’s CEO Ray Blanchette told an industry conference that the brand could return to 30 openings a year and more than double its footprint globally, according to trade publication FSR.
In July, Plano-based Brazilian restaurant chain Fogo de Chão said it plans to enter Asia for the first time, with five openings in the Philippines over the next six years.
