TGI Fridays App Adds Alcohol Delivery

Earlier this month, TGI Fridays announcedhow successful online ordering has beenfor the OG casual dining chain, with takeout sales increasing by 30 percent after entering the digital realm last summer. As an extension of that growth, the company said it was also testing delivery orders throughits mobile app—again, a logical progression for such a big dining brand. But after playing a bit of catchup, Fridays has finally announced a major technological breakthrough: It will begin offering beer and alcohol delivery along with food orders throughits mobile app—the first restaurant of its kind to do so.

The ability to buy booze to pairwith your Jack Daniel's Burgeris set to launch this holiday season in Texas before an anticipated national rollout in 2018. Though the brand calls this move a chance to "leverage its bar-centric heritage," importantly, the alcohol being delivered won't be coming from Fridays itself. Instead, this service is made possible by a partnership with Lash, a Dallas-based food andalcohol delivery startup. Along with your grub, Lash will also grab the alcohol you ordered from a local liquor store and include it with your delivery.

"Fridays has brought the Lash technology together with its own, making it the first restaurant where customers can order both food and beer/alcohol in one seamless process within the Fridays-branded digital experience," explains Caroline Masullo, TGI Fridays Vice President of Digital Strategy & E-Commerce.

Needless to say, getting your food and (alcoholic) drinks all in one place is a pretty sweet innovation, but what's the point if you can't order Fridays' classic cocktails like a good ol' fashioned Mud Slide? Well, they've got that covered too.

"Of course Fridays is known for its signature drinks, so we're helping customers recreate the art of the cocktail at home by offering a product we call Everything But the Booze," Masullo continues, "mixers and garnishes prepared fresh daily by our world-famous bartenders so that our guests can add alcohol at home to make their favorite Fridays cocktails."