Ray Blanchette, a man who once worked his way up from the kitchens of a TGI Fridays in Philadelphia, is now betting big on the future of the iconic bar-restaurant chain in the UK and beyond. In a bold move that many would call risky—"I am a little crazy maybe," Blanchette himself admits—his family investment firm, Sugarloaf, swooped in to rescue the Dallas-based parent company from administration in 2025. Just months later, he doubled down by acquiring the struggling UK arm, retaining 33 restaurants but closing 16, a painful decision that resulted in the loss of 456 jobs.
Blanchette’s gamble comes at a time when British restaurants and cafes are facing relentless pressure. According to The Guardian, rising staffing, energy, and food costs have combined with higher taxes—including employers’ national insurance contributions and business rates—to squeeze the industry from every angle. Diners, too, are pinching pennies as their own household budgets tighten, leading to fewer nights out and more empty tables.
Despite these daunting headwinds, Blanchette is undeterred. “We have enough history and legacy to build off,” he insists, referencing TGI Fridays’ storied past. Founded by Alan Stillman in New York in 1965 as the world’s first casual cocktail bar and restaurant, TGI Fridays once enjoyed a heyday in the UK during the 1990s, its red-and-white stripes and vintage memorabilia synonymous with a fun, all-American dining experience. Today, the brand boasts 420 restaurants in 42 countries, with Blanchette’s sights set on a future 1,000 outlets worldwide.
Blanchette’s family firm now controls the global master franchise for TGI Fridays, and Sugarloaf Hospitality directly operates 11 US locations and the UK restaurants. “My company has no private equity investment – it’s a family business, my business, and I bought [TGI] intending [for us] to own it for the next 100 years,” Blanchette tells The Guardian. He emphasizes a long-term vision over short-term profit, a strategy he believes is essential for reviving the brand’s reputation and customer loyalty.
When Blanchette took over the UK operation in January 2026, he found a business in dire need of attention. Nearly half the UK sites had no heating, and some restaurants were operating with faulty refrigerators. “We saw restaurants in a horrible condition,” he says. “That’s now sorted.” Blanchette is investing over £2.5 million in refurbishing restaurants, updating kitchen equipment, refreshing the memorabilia, and—crucially—retraining chefs and staff. The goal? To recapture the spirit of TGI Fridays’ 1990s heyday, when “cocktail waiters could mix up drinks with panache” and guests came for more than just the food.
Part of the turnaround involves making the menu more accessible. “Some appetisers, some margaritas and Long Island iced teas, I don’t know how that goes out of style,” Blanchette quips. A new value menu offers two courses plus a drink for £12.49, and affordable appetisers and sharing plates encourage guests to linger over drinks and conversation. Blanchette claims to have read every one of the hundreds of thousands of Google and Yelp reviews on TGI’s UK business, using customer feedback to guide the transformation. “We are getting back to what people expect from us. It is intended to be a little over the top and fun,” he says.
But the challenges facing the UK hospitality sector are not unique to TGI Fridays. Across the Atlantic, Kansas City is gearing up for its own hospitality test: the 2026 World Cup. With the world set to descend on the city, local bars, restaurants, hotels, and attractions are preparing for an unprecedented influx of visitors. The solution? A massive Hospitality Career Fair, set for April 22 at the Hy-Vee Arena, designed to fill every level and role in the service sector.
"This job fair is about making sure our hotels, restaurants, and attractions are fully staffed and ready to welcome the world for the 2026 World Cup, but it’s also about something bigger," explains Andrea O’Hara, Executive Director for the Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Kansas City. The event is a collaboration between the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association, Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Kansas City, Greater Kansas City Area Attractions Association, and Summit Technical Academy’s Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation Management class.
Over 40 local employers—including Sheraton, Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City, Worlds of Fun, Ruby Jean’s Juicery, and Culver’s—are registered to participate. The fair will run from 9 to 11 a.m. for high school and college students aged 18 and older (with registration required), and from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. for the general public. Attendees are encouraged to bring resumes and dress professionally.
The event is designed to welcome candidates from all backgrounds, with or without prior experience. “We, absolutely, will take people who’ve never had a single hour of experience in a restaurant, hotel, or attraction, because, quite frankly, our industry is very trainable,” says Trey Meyers, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association. Fluency in more than one language and broad availability are considered assets, as many establishments plan to extend their hours during the World Cup.
Kansas City’s hospitality scene is also expanding in anticipation of the event, with several restaurants opening new locations—Third Street Social in Olathe and Q39 in Lawrence among them. The job fair aims not just to fill positions but to offer meaningful, long-term careers in an industry that, as Meyers puts it, “feeds both people and passion.”
The sector, however, is not without its own challenges. The hospitality industry in Kansas City has faced the brunt of ICE raids, and recent layoffs in other industries—such as Oracle’s dismissal of 30,000 employees nationwide, including 500 in Kansas City—have seen many turning to hospitality for work. The job fair offers a lifeline, with operators emphasizing inclusivity for those with legal work status and celebrating the city’s diverse culinary landscape. “If you look at many of our restaurants, we take pride in our cultures. Asian cuisine, Southern cuisine, that’s the best thing about Kansas City – you can get a taste of everything all over the globe,” Meyers says.
Back in the UK, Blanchette remains keenly aware of the broader pressures facing the industry. He criticizes the current tax regime for high street businesses as “problematic” and believes it stifles growth. “Eventually government has got to realise that or it is going to be in a real lot of hurt. You will have people come to London to see the sites and not have anywhere to eat,” he warns.
For now, TGI Fridays UK is unlikely to open new restaurants in 2026—unless a prime London location becomes available. “I certainly want to expand but there are things to do first,” Blanchette says. “We are looking through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror. This is not about going back to the 90s.”
Even as families feel the pinch, Blanchette believes the desire to eat out and enjoy a treat remains strong. “If you are warmly greeted in a restaurant, you relax and say ‘let’s have some fun’.”
With hospitality leaders on both sides of the Atlantic investing in people, places, and a renewed sense of fun, the sector is banking on a comeback—one meal, and one guest, at a time.