The Briad Group has come a long way since October 1987, when Brad Honigfeld opened his first franchise—a Steve’s Ice Cream/Carnegie Deli in Princeton, N.J. Today, the ice cream parlor long gone, Briad now manages restaurants, major hotel chains, and is expanding into shopping center development and operation as Briad Restaurant Group, LLC.
We are best known for our three major divisions: quick-service, which operates Wendy’s® Old Fashioned Hamburgers restaurants; casual-dining, which oversees T.G.I. Friday’s® restaurants; and lodging, which develops and operates hotels under the Marriott® and Hilton® brands. Additionally, we opened the Promenade Shops at Clifton in 2009, a lifestyle shopping center.
Within a year of serving that first ice cream cone at Steve’s, Briad opened a Roy Rogers restaurant in North Brunswick. We discontinued that brand in 1994, when we became a franchisee of Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, converting many of the Roy Rogers restaurants to the Wendy’s brand. We now operate 42 Wendy’s throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, with plans to open more elsewhere.
The opening of our first T.G.I. Friday’s in central New Jersey (1993) initiated our casual-dining division. Over the next few years, Briad acquired additional development rights for central and northern New Jersey, as well as exclusive rights in Connecticut. In 1999—for the third consecutive year—we were named the “Domestic Franchise Group of the Year” by Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, the franchisor of T.G.I. Friday’s. In June 2006, we acquired Main Street Restaurant Group, the largest franchisee of T.G.I. Friday’s in the country. This major acquisition brings the total number of Briad-owned T.G.I. Friday’s stores to 70 locations in seven U.S. states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York).
Hotel management arrived in 1997, when Briad became a Marriott franchisee; five years later, the company added Hilton to the portfolio. Since obtaining these franchise rights, Briad has developed more than $100 million in real estate, focusing on limited-service hotels, including the Courtyard, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites brands. During the past six years, Briad has developed, operated and managed more than a dozen properties, and is exploring 12-15 more projects for the future.
We know we must manage costs in order to grow wisely. That’s why we established the construction division in 1993. It allows us to lower construction costs, reduce construction time and provide greater project oversight. We are proud to say this division successfully constructs and/or remodels company restaurants on time and within budget. This division also constructs our hotels, while the maintenance division is responsible for keeping our buildings in top condition—another cost-saving measure that points to our success.
By selecting quality franchise systems, employing experienced and talented managers and providing the infrastructure to support them, we have built a lasting foundation that models success and welcomes opportunities for strategic alliances and future growth.
