Back in 2008, Starbucks announced their goal of wanting to become the Third Place in our daily lives (i.e. Home, Work, and Starbucks.) That idea has grown to be even more important over the last six years as consumers, especially Millennials, are increasingly looking for non-traditional places to hang out, eat, drink or get work done. Why go to the library when you can go to a coffee shop? Why go to your office to work when you could go to…FRIDAYS?
TGI Fridays is bucking the chain casual dining stereotype and has opened a new concept restaurant in Texas that focuses on becoming a community-gathering place for various purposes. Want to grab a pastry and coffee at 7:00 a.m. and read your cache of online news? No problem. Tired of your home office or real office? Wi-Fi is free! Need a place to hang out with some friends and watch some live music tonight? Then this is your place. TGI Fridays is catering to “Millennial- minded” people who just want a social place to hang out for a variety of reasons.
It seems as though TGI Fridays is catering a bit to everyone for every occasion. Yet the ‘every occasion’ approach makes their new concept versatile to today’s versatile consumer. Is versatility and the ability to customize a restaurant to a specific daypart what it takes to win today’s consumers?
Image Source: AdAge.com/ TGI Fridays
