T.G.I. Friday?s Plans CMN Restaurant

Tricorp Management Corp. plans to open a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in Fayetteville’s CMN Business Park by early December.

Tricorp submitted a large-scale development plan with the Fayetteville Planning Department in late March.

The 5,914-SF casual-dining restaurant will be located at 463 E. Van Asche Dr., at the corner of Van Asche and Mall Avenue.

“This will be our first venture in Arkansas, and we’re looking forward to it,” said Steve Bell, CEO of Tricorp, a St. Louis-based franchise company that currently operates 11 T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants.

Bell said Tricorp recently landed the franchise rights to Northwest Arkansas. Tricorp doesn’t own the T.G.I. Friday’s in Fort Smith or Little Rock.

Bell said the T.G.I. Friday’s owned by Tricorp average $3.9 million in annual sales, including both food and liquor.

The 2.1-acre lot is currently owned by MSB Properties/Nanchar Development of Springdale.

Founded in New York City in 1965, there are now more than 750 T.G.I. Friday’s in 49 states and 54 countries. T.G.I. Friday’s is owned by Carlson Restaurants Worldwide of Minneapolis.

Tricorp’s plan is scheduled to go before the planning commission’s technical plat review committee on April 13 and the subdivision committee on April 28.