Roseville TGI Fridays to close; former Elk Grove site to get new business

The TGI Fridays restaurant in Roseville, the only remaining TGIF eatery in the Sacramento area, will close this weekend, according to workers there who did not want to be identified.

The reported closure of the Galleria Boulevard restaurant – possibly as soon as Saturday night – came amid news that a recently shuttered TGI Fridays outlet in Elk Grove will reopen in early 2016 as a Chicago Fire pizza restaurant.

The TGI Fridays outlet at The Ridge at Creekside shopping complex in Roseville was closed in 2009 as a result of the financial meltdown of former franchisee Abe Alizadeh. In April 2012, however, Fresno-based franchising firm Stripes Restaurants Inc. reopened the restaurant.

A manager answering the phone at the Roseville restaurant on Friday would not confirm the closure, referring all calls to Stripes. Repeated calls seeking comment from the Fresno firm were not returned.

Meanwhile Sacramento restaurateur Eric Schnetz said Friday that he plans to open a fifth local Chicago Fire restaurant next year in the former TGI Fridays restaurant at 7101 Laguna Blvd. in Elk Grove.

That 7,000-square-foot TGIF eatery was closed this past spring. An April 29 eviction notice said: “We were notified that the Fridays location in Elk Grove closed due to the franchisee failing to pay rent to its landlord.”

The Laguna Boulevard restaurant also was part of the former Alizadeh empire. It closed in September 2009 amid the collapse of the restaurant companies overseen by Roseville developer.

The Elk Grove outlet reopened in August 2011 under the Stripes franchisee group banner.

Chicago Fire founder Schnetz has big plans for the site; he said construction to bring it in line with Chicago Fire’s standards will begin in September. He said he did not want to open the new restaurant during the holiday season, and it likely will open in February 2016.

The locally based chain serves Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, a popular wafer-thin-crust pizza and stuffed pizza.

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Roseville TGI Fridays to close; former Elk Grove site to get new business."