The Deal
TGI Fridays has signed a franchise development agreement with Meerab Hospitality to bring up to 15 restaurants to Pakistan, with the first location targeted to open within 12 months at the Hyatt Regency Hotel complex in Lahore. The signing is the brand's second new-market agreement in September 2026, following its first-ever entry into the Balkans.
Meerab Hospitality is the restaurant and hospitality operating arm of UAE-based Meerab Properties, which claims a two-decade track record of investments and operating businesses across the Middle East, South Asia and Central Asia. The arrangement will include a mix of company-owned and sub-franchised units built out over the next decade.
Market Rationale
TGI Fridays is leaning on Pakistan's demographic profile as a core part of its pitch: a population of more than 240 million with a median age of just 21, rapid mall and mixed-use development, and what the company describes as an evolving appetite for experience-led international dining. Those conditions mirror the demand signals that have driven casual-dining and foodservice expansion into other high-growth South Asian markets in recent years.
"Pakistan has one of the youngest populations anywhere in the world and a retail landscape that's evolving fast," said Phil Broad, Global President of TGI Fridays. "Meerab Hospitality understands that better than an outside operator could, and their hospitality background means they know how to run a room, not just build one."
Pervaiz Iqbal Shahid, Founder and Group CEO of Meerab Properties, said the goal is to "reintroduce the brand through an energized and well-capitalized platform" and build a "sustainable nationwide business" over the long term.
Global Pipeline Context
The Pakistan agreement adds to a run of international signings that TGI Fridays says has put close to 200 restaurants into its development pipeline over the past year, spanning Kenya, the Maldives, Peru, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. All of it feeds into the chain's stated 1-2-3 Strategic Vision: 1,000-plus restaurants and $2 billion in annual revenue by 2030. The brand currently operates nearly 400 restaurants across roughly 40 countries.
For c-store and foodservice operators tracking international franchise and restaurant expansion, the TGI Fridays model is a useful reference point — a legacy casual-dining brand using long-term franchise partnerships with locally rooted operators to reenter or scale in markets where brand awareness exists but infrastructure is still catching up. Pakistan's accelerating investment in mall and mixed-use retail destinations is the same infrastructure wave that has historically pulled forecourt and foodservice formats into emerging markets ahead of broader consumer spending growth.
The Lahore flagship at the Hyatt Regency will serve as the brand's proof-of-concept unit for the market, establishing the service and experience standard before sub-franchise rollout begins in earnest.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
