TGI Fridays Sold For $800M To Checkers Franchiser

There's further trouble on the fast-casual restaurant front. Once in every mall and strip mall, the popularity of fast-casual restaurant and grill franchises like TGI Fridays, Applebee's and Chili's has waned. Now, the owners of TGI Fridays just announced that they will be selling the red and white-striped burger and grill chain for $800 million, to a pair of New York investor groups, Sentinel Capital Partners and TriArtisan Capital Partners, who had just purchased the Checkers restaurants earlier this year.

"We are proud of the Fridays brand and strong marketplace momentum that has been created over the past nearly four decades," said Trudy Rautio, president and chief executive of Carlson, the current owners of Fridays in a statement. "This transaction is a win for all parties and we are excited and confident that under Sentinel's ownership Fridays will continue to experience significant growth and capitalize on new opportunities."

The deal for the purchase of the over 900 restaurants is expected to be completed in July.

Joanna Fantozzi is an Associate Editor with The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @JoannaFantozzi