A Stickler for Sweets

Innovative Fluffpop puts a new spin on cotton candy

The latest trend on the food scene is a nostalgic, sugary treat: cotton candy. Chef Najat Kaanache of P|S mixes savory and sweet by topping a fried chicken skewer with cotton candy. And Chef Joel Peña is debuting his bacon cotton candy at the Texas Motor Speedway events in April.

But entrepreneur Yasmeen Tadia is taking a different approach to the fluffy goodness with her new Dallas-based cotton candy company, Fluffpop.

The single mom says that she is always on the lookout for fun treats and unique things to do for her 3-year-old son. Tadia and her son both love the taste and texture of cotton candy, but the only kinds available were too sugary and filled with chemicals and dyes. So, after some experimenting, she decided to create her own.

wFluffpop comes in flavors like guava, cappuccino and peppermint, but owner Yasmeen Tadia can spin any hard candy into cotton candy.

"I modified an ordinary machine so I could spin any candy," Tadia says. "I'm no engineer. I had help with the construction."

She says the same person who created the box to cover the machinery — which also makes it suitable to take to events — creates many of the display cases for Neiman Marcus. That explains why we didn't even recognize her spinning machine.

The process is called spinning because Tadia drops the candy into a heated machine, which spins and turns it into a soft, airy substance. As the machine does its magic, she quickly turns a skewer around the center of the machine to collect the fluff.

Tadia wouldn't reveal the exact science or the construction of her machine — but we wouldn't, either, if we had come up with idea ourselves.

Aside from the small and therefore transportable scale of her machine, the greatest part about Fluffpop is the taste. The confection takes on the flavors of whatever candy is spun. And the white hue means there are no additional dyes or fortified ingredients.

Currently Tadia spins three kinds of flavors, which are available for purchase online: gourmet (guava, lychee, sparkling strawberry and cappuccino), organic (cherry and pomegranate) and sugar-free (peppermint, lemon, orange and pineapple). She plans to introduce new flavors as time goes on.

But if you hire Tadia to spin at an event, she can make whatever flavor you like, as long as it comes in hard-candy form. If she doesn't have the flavor you want, she says she'll find it.

Her recent spinning gigs include events at Nobu and the W Dallas Victory Hotel. And Tadia says she's willing to travel for someone who simply must have gourmet cotton candy for a party.

In the future, Tadia hopes to open a cotton candy store similar to an old-school candy shop. Instead of selecting the candies to eat right away, Tadia will take the selected sweets and spin them into Fluffpop.

Now that's our kind of sugar rush.

Fluffpop is a Dallas-based gourmet cotton candy company.

Photo by MUhammed Ismail

Fluffpop is a Dallas-based gourmet cotton candy company.

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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.