International casual dining restaurant chain TGI Friday’s (TGIF) is expanding its presence in India with plans to nearly triple the number of restaurants here by 2015.
The chain, whose Indian operations are 26 per cent owned by global hospitality and travel company Carlson and the rest by Bistro Hospitality Pvt Ltd, currently operates seven TGIF outlets here.
“We are adding new ones very quickly here (in India) and have decided to roll out twelve more restaurants by 2015,” said KB Kachru, vice-president, Carlson South Asia.
The chain recently opened new restaurants in Hyderabad and Noida. It is looking to add one each in Delhi and Bangalore soon, he added, without giving details of the investment.
TGIF started its operations in India in 1996.
The Indian expansion is part of an international strategy, under which the company aims to open a total of 500 TGIFs outside the US over the next five years, up from 330 currently.
The company operates more than 1,000 outlets worldwide, including the US market.
“As part of our global plan, we expect our restaurants outside the US to reach 500 by 2015. India is part of this plan,” Carlson’s president and CEO Hubert Joly said.
Identifying India as a key market for its future growth, Carlson said last week that it plans to operate over 100 hundred hotels in the country by 2015.
The company, which operates 31 hotels across India, said it plans to expand to 11,000 rooms over the next five years, compared to 2,865 rooms it currently has.