TGI FRIDAY’S CASUAL DINING
MATERIÁLY PRO UČITELE
Could you introduce Rosinter Group? What is the background of your company? Sure. Rosinter restaurants holding is a public company listed on the Russian stock exchange but we operate in nine different countries, including the Czech Republic. The company started in 1990 with one restaurant, right on the main square in Russia, in Moscow and we’ve grown ever since then. We’ve had a substantial growth in 2008 when we grew from 147 restaurants to 235 restaurants and now we have 360, including the operations with our franchise partners. We operate five different brands, including two brands that are present on the Czech Republic market, which are TGI Fridays and Planet Sushi. The TGI Fridays, it’s quite well-known brand. What’s the target of this brand? What is the main focus? The brand is, TGI Fridays is casual dining, so it’s mostly developed for people who want to relax, who want to come for the good American food and good cocktails. This is very important to say that we are not only American restaurant but also very good cocktail bar, which most of people don’t know. So, it’s far different from burgers, KFC and McDonals’s? The problem is that when we say American kitchen, everybody thinks only about burgers, which is, of course, significant item on the menu but it’s only like 10% of the whole menu. So the menu has 50-60 items including salads, including pasta, including sandwiches, appetizers and last couple years, we are adding more and more what we call life-style menu, which are food…I don’t want to say diet food but soft, healthy food. You have experience from other countries, eastern European countries, Russia and the others. Could you compare the customer behaviour, how you see the differences, how people spend in your restaurants, what’s the habits? Well, if you compare, if you look at the Russian consumer, the Russian consumer didn’t have for many, many years available nice, affordable restaurants. So, now they use them mostly for special occasions and when they go out, they spend a lot of money. So, the average check for individual Russian customer is much higher than, say, in any of the other countries we work in. If I compare to the Czech Republic, where you’ve had a long tradition of having great casual dining options for many, many years, the consumer thing is a little more choosy in what they’re going for. They’re going for specific items and not necessarily spending a lot of money. How is it in Prague? Well, Sushi, of course, it’s the most expensive restaurant which we have in Prague. The average check per person it’s around 500 CZK. TGI Friday’s in Anděl for the local people has average check about 320-340 crowns so, you can see there is nearly 200 crowns per person differences. What’s the number of the clients who you invited in these restaurants? Of course, it depends on the season… It’s also big differences every year. Now we are hopefully over the crisis, so the numbers was going very drastically down from 2007, 2008 years. We saw it in 2009, 2010 that we dropped down with the guests nearly 20-25% during some months during the year. Bur generally, right now, we can say that in Plant Sushi we can serve between 90 and 100 guests a day. In TGI Friday’s we are serving around 200, 220 guests. Of course, Na Příkopě, where is the very strong tourist area, we are serving much more people. It’s nearly double to compare with Anděl.
Mohla byste představit Rosinter Group? Jaké pozadí má vaše firma? Jistě. Skupina restaurací Rosinter je veřejná obchodní společnost registrovaná na Ruské burze, ale fungujeme v devíti zemích včetně ČR. Firma byla založena v roce 1990, kdy otevřela první restauraci v Moskvě na Rudém náměstí a od té doby jen rosteme. Podstatný růst jsme zaznamenali v roce 2008, kdy jsme narostli o 147 restaurací na celkových 235. V současné době máme 360 restaurací včetně našich franšízových partnerů. Provozujeme pět značek, včetně dvou, které jsou přítomny na Českém trhu, což jsou TGI Friday’s a Planet Sushi. TGI Friday’s je docela známá značka. Jakou má cílovou skupinu? Jaké má hlavní zaměření? TGI Friday’s se jako značka zaměřuje na neformální stravování, takže byla vytvořena zejména pro lidi, kteří se chtějí uvolnit, dát si dobré americké jídlo a dobré koktejly. To je důležité zdůraznit, že nejsme jen americká restaurace, ale i velmi dobrý koktejlový bar, což většina lidí neví. Takže je to hodně jiné než hamburgery, KFC a McDonald’s? Problém je, že když se řekne americká kuchyně, všichni si představí hamburgery, což je, samozřejmě, podstatná složka jídelníčku, ale je to tak 10% našeho menu. Naše menu má 50-60 položek včetně salátů, těstovin, sendvičů, předkrmů a minulý rok jsme přidali více tzv. menu životního stylu, což je jídlo…nechci říct dietní, ale lehké a zdravé. Máte zkušenosti z jiných zemí, východní Evropy, Ruska atd. Mohli byste porovnat chování spotřebitelů, jaké mezi nimi vidíte rozdíly, jak lidé ve vašich restauracích utrácí, jaké mají zvyky? Když porovnáte, když se podíváte na ruské spotřebitele – ti neměli mnoho let k dispozici hezké restaurace, které by si mohli dovolit. Takže je dnes používají pro zvláštní příležitosti, a když už si vyrazí, utratí hodně peněz. Takže průměrný účet jednotlivého ruského zákazníka je mnohem vyšší než v jakékoli jiné zemi, kde fungujeme. Když to porovnám s ČR, kde je dlouhá tradice vynikajících možností neformálního stravování, vidím, že zdejší zákazníci jsou vybíravější. Jdou za konkrétními věcmi a nutně neutrácí velké sumy. Jak je to v Praze? Tak samozřejmě, Sushi je nejdražší restaurace, kterou v Praze máme. Průměrná útrata na osobu je 500 korun. TGI Friday’s na Andělu pro místní lidi vykazuje průměrnou útratu 320 až 340 korun, takže vidíte, že to je rozdíl téměř 200 korun na osobu. Jaký počet klientů navštěvuje vaše restaurace? Samozřejmě, to záleží na sezóně… To je každý rok dost jiné. Teď jsme snad už překonali krizi, ale oproti rokům 2007 a 2008 šla čísla drasticky dolů. V letech 2009 a 2010 jsme v některých měsících ztratili až 20-25% hostů. Ale obecně můžeme v současné době říct, že Planet Sushi obslouží denně 90-100 hostů. TGI Friday’s obslouží zhruba 200-220 hostů. Samozřejmě, Na Příkopě, kde je velmi frekventovaná turistická oblast, máme mnohem více lidí. Je to téměř dvojnásobek toho co na Andělu.
write
check
discuss
share
match
answer
find
info
EXERCISE 1 Discuss and share your answers to the following questions: 1. What do you imagine if someone says “American cuisine“? What kind of dishes can you name? 2. How important is what you eat to you? Do you eat everything that is served to you or are you selective? What principles guide your food choices? Give examples. 3. Describe a visit to a restaurant where you were very satisfied. Where was it? What made is enjoyable? What did you have? Did other factors besides the menu contribute to your feeling of well-being there (i.e. ambiance, décor, wait staff, location, the other customers, aesthetics, serving style, serving dishes, relaxation, etc.) 4. If you could eat anywhere you wanted and price was of no concern, which restaurant would you choose to eat at? Why?
EXERCISE 2 Are these statements TRUE or FALSE? 1. 2008 was the most successful year for the restaurant holding so far. 2. Czech customers are more choosy than Russian ones. 3. The average bill per person is higher in the Czech Republic than in Russia. 4. The company operates in 10 countries. 5. T.G.I. Friday‘s and Planet Sushi are owned by the same company. 6. T.G.I. Friday‘s offers no hamburgers on their menu. 7. They lost about 35% customers during the financial crisis. 8. T.G.I. Friday‘s restaurant at Anděl has more customers than that at Na Příkopě.
EXERCISE 3 Listen and fill in the missing text. 1. Rosinter restaurants holding is a company listed on the Russian stock exchange but we operate in different countries, including the Czech Republic. 2. We’ve had a substantial growth in when we grew from have 360, including the with our franchise partners.
restaurants to
restaurants and now we
3. The problem is that when we say American kitchen, everybody thinks only about which is, of course, significant item on the menu but it’s only like of the whole menu. So the menu has items including , including , including , appetizers and last couple years… 4. Well, if you compare, if you look at the consumer, the consumer didn’t have for many, many years available nice, affordable restaurants. So, now they use them mostly for and when they go out, they spend money. So, the average check for individual Russian customer is much than, say, in any of the other we work in. If I compare to the Czech Republic, where you’ve had a long tradition of having great casual dining options for many, many years, the consumer thing is a little more choosy in what they’re going for. 5. Now we are over the crisis, so the numbers (were) going very from 2007, 2008 years. We saw it in 2009, 2010 that we dropped with the guests nearly during some months during the year.
EXERCISE 4 Match the following English expressions with their Czech equivalent.
1. HOLDING
A) BURZA CENNÝCH PAPÍRŮ
2. STOCK EXCHANGE
B) PODSTATNÝ
3. OPERATE
C) FRANŠÍZA
4. SUBSTANTIAL
D) PŘEDKRM
5. FRANCHISE
E) CENOVĚ DOSTUPNÝ
6. SIGNIFICANT
F) ÚČET V RESTAURACI (US)
7. APPETIZER
G) VYBÍRAVÝ
8. AFFORDABLE
H) PROVOZOVAT; BÝT ČINNÝ
9. CHECK
I) POKLESNOUT
10. CASUAL DINING
J) ZNAČNÝ; VÝZNAMNÝ
11. CHOOSY
K) NEFORMÁLNÍ STRAVOVÁNÍ
12. DROP
L) SDRUŽENÍ OBCHODNÍCH SPOLEČNOSTÍ
PHRASE BOOK Use the vocabulary list to develop questions you could ask the Manager in a mock interview. With a partner, take turns being the Manager. Role play asking and answering your questions. PUBLIC COMPANY
A company that has issued securities to the public and is traded in at least one stock market. In a public company, the ownership is shared between the board, employee shareholders, trustees, and public shareholders.
EXERCISE 5 ROLE PLAY 1. PREPARE: Work in small groups of 3 or 4. Role play that you are owners of an up-scale Manhattan restaurant who has bought controlling shares in the TGI Friday’s company. You have paid a visit to Prague because you have gotten their board to agree to your plan and you want to change the lifestyle menu of TGI Fridays to something that is more ‘international’ rather than ‘American’ cuisine. After reviewing the company’s website http://www.tgifridays.com/, you have prepared a list of changes to present to the company’s managers in Prague. What new ‘offerings’ will you suggest they add to the menu? 2. PRESENT: Develop your characters and your script. Act out the merger meeting with both sides sitting at the table. How will the new company convince the old managers to accept their changes? 3. REFLECT: After all of the groups have presented their versions of the scenario, discuss how ‘lifestyle’ choices are conditioned by media imagery and advertising. If you wanted to change the lifestyle choices of the public, how would you go about doing it? From what to what would you change the choices? When you are a manager of a company, how important is it for you to negotiate and problem-solve all changes that occur in the day-to-day environment of running the company’s business? 4. TEAMPLAYER: What does it mean to be a ‘team player’ when you work for a large, multinational company?
EXERCISE 6 GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX TEST 1. The speaker in the video said: “The company started in 1990 with one restaurant, right on the main square in Russia, in Moscow.“ Why didn‘t she say in the square? A) She made a mistake B) Because she speaks American English C) Because on the square is a colloquial reference to the well-known main center of the town, Red Square. 2. Which of the following grammatical structures are more likely to be used in American English? Can you formulate the rules? A) Have you had breakfast yet?
B) Did you have breakfast yet?
C) Do you have a problem?
D) Have you got a problem?
E) The committee were unable to agree.
F) The committee was unable to agree.
3. Look at the following pairs of words. Select the ones that are used in American English.
4. Look at the following pairs of words. Select the ones that use American English spelling.
WHILE YOU WATCH EXERCISE 2
1. TRUE, 2. TRUE, 3. FALSE, 4. FALSE, 5. TRUE, 6. FALSE, 7. FALSE, 8. FALSE
EXERCISE 3 1.
Rosinter restaurants holding is a public company listed on the Russian stock exchange but we operate in nine different countries, including the Czech Republic.
2.
We’ve had a substantial growth in 2008 when we grew from 147 restaurants to 235 restaurants and now we have 360, including the operations with our franchise partners.
3.
The problem is that when we say American kitchen, everybody thinks only about burgers, which is, of course, (a) significant item on the menu but it’s only like 10% of the whole menu. So the menu has 5060 items including salads, including pasta, including sandwiches, appetizers and last couple years…
4.
Well, if you compare, if you look at the Russian consumer, the Russian consumer didn’t have for many, many years available nice, affordable restaurants. So, now they use them mostly for special occasions and when they go out, they spend a lot of money. So, the average check for (an) individual Russian customer is much higher than, say, in any of the other countries we work in. If I compare (it) to the Czech Republic, where you’ve had a long tradition of having great casual dining options for many, many years, the consumer thing is a little more choosy in what they’re going for.
5.
Now we are hopefully over the crisis, so the numbers (were) going very drastically down from 2007, 2008 years. We saw it in 2009, 2010 that we dropped down with the guests nearly 20-25% during some months during the year.
AFTER YOU WATCH EXERCISE 4 1L, 2A, 3H, 4B, 5C, 6J, 7D, 8E, 9F, 10K, 11G, 12I
AFTER YOU WATCH EXERCISE 6 1.
B, C
2.
B - Past simple is frequently used instead of Present Prefect in American English C - HAVE uses the auxiliary DO to make questions and negatives in American English F - Collective nouns are singular in American English.
3. lorry
truck
sidewalk
pavement
garbage
rubbish
holiday
vacation
autumn
fall
store
shop
apartment
flat
gas
petrol
4. analyze
analyse
jewelry
jewellery
theater
theatre
defense
defence
program
programme
pajamas
pyjamas
color
colour
tire (car)
tyre (car)
