Bar News

Dallas bar owners partner up to create new dive bar in the Cedars District

Mike's will be a dive bar.

Photo courtesy of Mike's

Two young Dallas bar owners have joined forces to open a bar together.

The new bar is called Mike's Gemini Twin and it's a collaboration between Sam Wynne, co-owner of Braindead Brewing, and Pasha Heidari, owner of Bowen House.

Mike's is going into a space at 1902 S. Harwood St. that previously was home to a bar called El Granero, which has moved.

"I'm renovating a dive bar with my friend Pasha Heidari called Mike's Gemini Twin," Wynne says in a post on Facebook that renders food writers to be mildly pointless but hey, no hard feelings, can't say I disagree. "We just got the keys, and our SUP, so we're off to the races."

Wynne has also posted a YouTube video showing the interior of the space, with guys walking around with tape measures and such.

Wynne says on the video that his fiancee Melissa is renovating spaces above the bar; meanwhile, his father Shannon Wynne has his 8.0 Management office one block away. They're into the Cedars.

The place has been in the works since May. According to Heidari, he and Sam have been friends and decided to join forces when the location opened.

"There was a space available on the other side of the Dallas Farmers Market and we both love the Cedars neighborhood, Sam lives over there," Heidari says. "We were offered the opportunity to take the space because we knew the landlord."

"It's a cool space, it's a shotgun bar," Heidari says.

Wynne says that he and Heidari are aiming for a "funny little place where we can do our own thing."

"Pasha and I are similar in a lot of ways but also different, and we liked the idea of having a place with influences from each of us," Wynne says. "It's definitely going to be a dive bar. We're not going to be hanging a chandelier like at Bowen House. Nor are we going to have a sprawling, open floor plan like at Braindead. It will be different but still reflect who we are."

Neither Heidari nor Wynne are Geminis. But the bar's name has some Dallas history: It's an homage to an old drive-in theater on Northwest Highway called the Gemini Twin.

They're obviously still in the very early stages, with an opening forecast for winter 2018.

"There are still a lot of things we haven't even decided yet," Heidari says. "But we know we want it to be a fun place to hang out, just a little neighborhood bar."

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Flair News

TGI Fridays files for bankruptcy, all 6 Dallas locations now closed

TGI Fridays

Restaurant chain TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy protection on November 2, saying it is looking for ways to “ensure the long-term viability” of the casual dining brand after closing many of its branches in 2024.

The Dallas-based company's Chapter 11 filing in a Texas federal court accelerates a gradual decline for an iconic chain that was once near the center of American pop culture but has seen its customer base dwindle as tastes changed.

TGI Fridays executive chairman Rohit Manocha said in a statement that the challenges were a result of COVID-19.

"The next steps announced today are difficult but necessary actions to protect the best interests of our stakeholders, including our domestic and international franchisees and our valued team members around the world," Manocha said. "The primary driver of our financial challenges resulted from COVID-19 and our capital structure. This restructuring will allow our go-forward restaurants to proceed with an optimized corporate infrastructure that enables them to reach their full potential."

Until recently, Dallas-Fort Worth had 11 locations including five at DFW Airport. Those airport locations are the only ones still open. The remaining six are all now closed — some closures very recent, most after being in business for a decade or more: 4951 Belt Line Rd. in Addison; 311 N. Clark St. in Cedar Hill, southwest of Dallas; 3700 Towne Crossing Blvd. in Mesquite; and 220 Cornflower Dr. at Firewheel Town Center in Garland.

A Plano location at 2444 Preston Rd. closed in 2022 and is now home to Rise Souffle, while the flagship in Dallas' West End at 1713 Market St. closed in 2020 after 32 years.

Privately owned by TriArtisan Capital Advisors, TGI Fridays has been a beloved dining destination since its inaugural bar opened in Manhattan in 1965. It expanded over the following decades to become a ubiquitous suburban gathering spot known for its ribs, potato skins topped with cheese and bacon, and a decor bedecked with red stripes and Tiffany-style lamps.

The company has boasted that its bartenders trained Tom Cruise for his role in the 1988 film Cocktail, while its serving staff's button-filled uniforms, meant to evoke a fun atmosphere, were later parodied in the 1999 satire Office Space, starring Jennifer Aniston.

Its empire peaked in 2008 with 601 restaurants in the U.S. and a $2 billion business, according to Kevin Schimpf, director of industry research at Technomic. Its sales in the U.S. were $728 million in 2023, down 15% from the prior year, according to Technomic.

It now counts 163 restaurants in the U.S., down from 269 last year and 213 from a week ago. It closed 36 in January and dozens more in the past week. TGI Fridays Inc. said it only owns and operates 39 restaurants in the U.S, a fraction of the 461 TGI Fridays-branded restaurants around the world.

A separate entity, TGI Fridays Franchisor, owns the intellectual property and has franchised the brand to 56 independent owners in 41 countries. Those are independently owned and not part of the Chapter 11 process, and remain open.

A United Kingdom-based franchisee, Hostmore, also sought debt protection in September and abruptly closed locations throughout that country after a failed takeover deal to acquire TGI Fridays.

During the pandemic TGI Fridays made an effort to expand into the delivery market by making itself a hub for ghost kitchens, which have no storefront and only prepare food for delivery. Among the major creditors owed money by TGI Fridays is the delivery service DoorDash, according to Saturday's bankruptcy court filings.

Sit-down chain restaurants more broadly have faced challenges in recent years as diners choose to get food delivered or visit upscale fast-food chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack. In September a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan for the seafood chain Red Lobster after years of mounting losses. Italian American food chain Buca di Beppo filed for bankruptcy protection in August. PAnother iconic U.S. sit-down restaurant, Denny's, announced in October that it is closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales. Wendy’s is also closing up to 140 restaurants, according to a statement from The Wendy's Co. on October 31.