組別: 英文組
類別: 論文類
Thank God, It's Friday!-The Restaurant “T.G.I
Friday’s＂
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.Friday’s, contributing factors
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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 Friday’s Name -------------------------------------------------- 2
III.2. The History of Friday’s -------------------------------------------------------- 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, It’s Friday!- The Restaurant ‘ T.G.I Fridays’ .” We
first planned on our visit to the Friday’s restaurant in order to observe what the appearance and the
building looked like, also tried some iconic cuisine of Friday’s. After relishing those delicious
dishes, we turned to the manager of the restaurant to ask some details about Friday’s. 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 team’s 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.
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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
Figure3.1 The Logo of Friday’s Restaurant
(Beerstreetjournal, 2011)
Friday’s, whose original name is T.G.I
Friday’s, is stemmed from" Thank Goodness!
It’s Friday’s."(Wikipedia) It’s an adage which
comes from America. Its initial meaning is that
after working hard a whole week, finally, it’s
Friday. That is, it means they don’t 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
needn’t 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.
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III.2 The History of Friday’s (Wikipedia)
How was this restaurant founded? It’s 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 didn’t 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 Friday’s.
Why are they so imperative for Friday’s? 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
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III.4 Interview with manager(2011.07.30 台中三民店星期五餐廳-台中市北
區三民路三段 148 號)
Figure3.4 The Picture of Sanming Branch
(Dingok, 2011)
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, it’s 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, there’s 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. It’s 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 restaurant’s staff, and if
they have high proficiency in English, they are easier to be hired.(餐廳經營管理與服務，游
達榮、林慧懿 ，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.
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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
Male
Female
M/F
102
98
(Form1)
Gender
49%
Mele
Female
51%
(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
10-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50↑
Number
21
121
27
18
13
(Form2 )
5
Age and customers
9%
7%
11%
10~20
20~30
13%
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 Friday’s 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
5↓
5-10
10↑
97
79
24
patronage
Number
(Form3)
The frequency of patronage
48%
12%
5↓
5~10
10↑
40%
(Graph3)
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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 Friday’s 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 Friday’s, they presented
their motives in the six forms—family 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’
Number
Family
reunion
Friend
reunion
33
56
Birthday
Dating
Meeting
celebration with lovers
47
41
9
Others
14
(Form4)
The purpose you come to Fridays＇
5
5%
7%
Family reunion
17%
Friend reunion
21%
27%
23%
Birthday
celebration
Dating with
lovers
Meeting
Others
(Graph4)
This graph signifies that the highest ranking of why customers go to Friday’s is
for friend reunions, followed by birthday celebrations. The result shows that
Friday’s fulfills its aim. That is, to provide its customers with joyful and
relaxing atmosphere.
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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 it’s 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.(經營餐飲店一定賺錢
的秘笈，宇井義行，2010.07.10)
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V.Reference
1.
2.
3.
餐廳經營管理與服務/作者：游達榮、林慧懿/ 出版社：三藝文化/ 出 版
日期：2008 年 04 月 01 日
經營餐飲店一定賺錢的秘笈/者：宇井義行/譯者：呂志宏/出版社：中國
生產力中心/出版日期：2010 年 07 月 10 日
Beerstreetjournal 2012.02.29 取自
http://beerstreetjournal.com/t-g-i-fridays-is-getting-crafty/
4.
T.G.I. Friday's Wikipedia 2011.10.15 取自
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.G.I._Friday%27s
5. 2011.10.15 實地走訪台中市西區三民店星期五餐廳(404 台中市北區三民
路三段 148 號)
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