TGI Fridays leaves Lauderdale

The restaurant at 6200 N. Federal Highway has closed. The Hollywood and Coral Springs locations remain open.

FORT LAUDERDALE A once-popular TGI Fridays restaurant that served Fort Lauderdale for more than four decades has ended its long run after it was closed recently by its Atlantabased franchise operator.

“After serving the Fort Lauderdale community, since the ’70’s, our TGI Fridays has closed its doors,” declared a note pasted to the front door bearing the letterhead of Jackmont Hospitality. “We want to thank our many loyal guests and friends who have visited us over the decades; it has been an honor serving you.”

Alluding to the chain’s signature sauce that spiced up its salmon, baby back ribs, steak and pork chop dishes, the note referred customers to two other TGI Fridays in Broward County: “For your Jack Daniels glaze cravings, please visit our other locations @ Hollywood and Coral Springs or visit us on the web at fridays.com.”

A Jackmont Hospitality spokesman did not respond to an email asking why the restaurant closed.

Jackmont, which according to its website operates 40 TGI Fridays franchises in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and five southern states, including Florida, acquired 16 locations from the parent company in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area in 2015.

Entrenched as the southern anchor of a strip mall at 6200 N. Federal Highway known as the Promenade at Bay Colony, the TGI Fridays offered visitors substantial parking, robust happy hours and an outdoor dining option. Patrons flocked to the place on weekends and nearby office workers dropped in for lunch.

But it’s possible the neighborhood became a little too crowded with competitors.

Through the years, the stretch of Federal Highway from roughly Northeast 52nd to 65th streets, just below the Pompano Beach line, has served up a wide array of dining choices including Italian, Thai, Japanese, Colombian, Mexican and American fast-food. Nationally known brands such as Smokey Bones, Bonefish Grill, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Pollo Tropical, Olive Garden, Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s and Dairy Queen all staked out territory nearby.

But TGI Fridays is no more. Its name is stripped from the building and overturned furniture occupies the patio where customers once dined outdoors.