T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in Manchester’s Buckland Hills is reopening at lunchtime Monday with more than 110 employees, nearly nine months after being heavily gutted in a fire — the second in that location’s brief history, the Texas chain says.
Friday’s is celebrating the 11 a.m. reopening by offering the first 50 guests free appetizers for a year.
Also, patrons who make a donation at the restaurant at 209 Hale Road to support Manchester firefighters receive a free appetizer card.
The restaurant was closed when a cleaning crew discovered the blaze in the grill area around 4 a.m. on Oct. 1. No one was injured. A damage estimate or the cost to restore the eatery was not available.
The same restaurant caught on fire in December 2006. The cause of that blaze had to do with electrical wiring.
The restaurant first opened in March 2005 with a seating capacity of 340. Among its revised décor is large, plasma TV screens and a more visible bar.
A number of the employees from the burned-out restaurant transferred to other Friday’s locations in the Hartford area, including Enfield and Newington, said spokesman Tom Beyer. Some are returning to work at the renovated restaurant.
The Manchester restaurant is among about 70 run by Friday’s franchisee The Briad Group of Livingston, N.J.
The Friday’s chain is based in Carrollton, Texas.
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