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13 TGI Fridays cited for phony booze....

MaggieD

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New Jersey authorities are investigating 29 establishments for serving customers cheaper booze as a substitute for top-shelf liquor, including one that allegedly offered rubbing alcohol and food coloring as scotch....A spokesman for the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control declined to which establishment served rubbing alcohol, saying it is an ongoing investigation.Among the 29 licensed bars and restaurants cited for phony booze in the crackdown, dubbed “Operation Swill,” are 13 TGI Fridays restaurants throughout New Jersey.
On Tuesday, investigators visited the establishments, inspected the bar areas and seized all opened bottles. About 1,000 bottles were seized and will undergo more testing by investigators and manufacturers. The investigators seized various brands of vodka, gin, rum, scotch, whiskey and tequila. Investigators also took statements from employees and served demands for sales records to the establishments, which have seven days to provide records of the brands of interest.


TGI Fridays issued a statement that said, “TGI Fridays was just made aware of this issue and is working closely with the franchisee and owner of the cited locations to review and investigate these serious allegations. We have one of the most extensive bar and beverage programs in the industry, which sets a very high standard in the quality and service of our beverages.”

TGI Fridays. I'm amazed. I wonder if this is an employee theft problem. Who in God's green earth would be stupid enough to substitute alcohol with rubbing alcohol??

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/05/nj-bars-accused-of-booze-fraud-serving-rubbing-alcohol/
 
TGI Fridays. I'm amazed. I wonder if this is an employee theft problem. Who in God's green earth would be stupid enough to substitute alcohol with rubbing alcohol??

NJ Bars Accused of Booze Fraud, Serving Rubbing Alcohol - ABC News

I saw this earlier today and I was likewise kind of amazed. I think I could accept the possibility that it's an employee theft issue if it happened at one restaurant, but 13? That's management trying to cut some corners. I'm amazed the customers never noticed they were being served crap.
 
TGI Fridays. I'm amazed. I wonder if this is an employee theft problem. Who in God's green earth would be stupid enough to substitute alcohol with rubbing alcohol??

NJ Bars Accused of Booze Fraud, Serving Rubbing Alcohol - ABC News

about 20 years ago, the owners of the TGIF franchise sold off "regions" of the country which are now run independently For example in Cincinnati (HQ) Lexington, Dayton, Columbus, and I believe Pittsburgh the TGIF franchise is called "The Bistro Inc" run by a wealthy (he may be deceased now) former medical item supplier named Robert Conway. while they have to meet certain standards, its the local franchise owner whois probably at fault
 
I saw this earlier today and I was likewise kind of amazed. I think I could accept the possibility that it's an employee theft issue if it happened at one restaurant, but 13? That's management trying to cut some corners. I'm amazed the customers never noticed they were being served crap.

most people wouldn't notice because they really can't tell the difference.
 
Is that what scotch tastes like? Ew.
 
most people wouldn't notice because they really can't tell the difference.

Between rubbing alcohol and whiskey? I doubt it. I agree that bar customers can be stupid, especially if they've been drinking for a while, but I can't really see not recognizing that rubbing alcohol isn't whiskey.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen this sort of thing in action. I used to bartend in fine dining restaurants before I went to law school, and I found in general that customers would taste what I told them to taste (especially with wine). But confusing rubbing alcohol with whiskey is a little beyond the pale.
 
I eat anywhere and like pretty much, I am not picky at ll. I love Applebees and just about everywhere. But I just dont like TGIFridays. I have never found anything there I really like.
 
Between rubbing alcohol and whiskey? I doubt it. I agree that bar customers can be stupid, especially if they've been drinking for a while, but I can't really see not recognizing that rubbing alcohol isn't whiskey.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen this sort of thing in action. I used to bartend in fine dining restaurants before I went to law school, and I found in general that customers would taste what I told them to taste (especially with wine). But confusing rubbing alcohol with whiskey is a little beyond the pale.

i wasn't talking about the rubbing alcohol.
 
I eat anywhere and like pretty much, I am not picky at ll. I love Applebees and just about everywhere. But I just dont like TGIFridays. I have never found anything there I really like.

back when corporate ran the places they tended to only hire really cute girls who looked great in short black skirts.

not so much anymore but I eat at one weekly-the head bartender is a good friend of the wife and I
 
Not good scotch ;)

I'm generally more of a bourbon guy myself, but substituting crap for good scotch should be the 8th deadly sin. It's like taking a Picasso and drawing Mickey Mouse on it with crayon.
 
Why am I not surprised. :roll:
 
In context of our politics, I'm amazed that you're amazed.

For a while now, we;ve seen more and more of how dishonesty has become respectable in the name of profits. Read advertosements from major companies and analyze them for the lies and exaggarations. It's cool to be bent in the New America if you make a lot of money doing it. You may not really be too big to fail:roll: but you can live like you're too big to fail. Crooked is in.

Not all criminals are smart. Often they just think they are. They suffer from the same greed as the corporations and the people. You see how the police catch drug dealers after 20 years? Why would you deal drugs for 20 years? Did you not realize EVENTUALLY you would be caught. Was $100 million not enough? Needed another 100 million to feel secure? How long can you poison your bar drinks and not get noticed? Maybe in just one more week....?....

Bizarre.






(all the above is an opinion. no facts were harmed in the writing of this statement)


TGI Fridays. I'm amazed. I wonder if this is an employee theft problem. Who in God's green earth would be stupid enough to substitute alcohol with rubbing alcohol??

NJ Bars Accused of Booze Fraud, Serving Rubbing Alcohol - ABC News
 
I wonder if anyone got sick?

Since we're talking about booze, it might be hard to distinguish between people who got sick due to crap product and people who just drank too much. ;)
 
Is that what scotch tastes like? Ew.

Scotch tastes nothing like rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is Isopropyl alcohol which is dangerous to ingest because it metabolizes into Acetone. Scotch should have kind of an earthy or smokey flavor.
 
Since we're talking about booze, it might be hard to distinguish between people who got sick due to crap product and people who just drank too much. ;)

:lol: That's a good point. Wouldn't you think that people would be able to smell that rubbing alcohol though? That stuff smells pretty bad and strong. I don't drink scotch though, so I don't really know.
 
Since we're talking about booze, it might be hard to distinguish between people who got sick due to crap product and people who just drank too much. ;)

Actually, Fridays is typical of most asleep at wheel corporations..................Just look at the record of them belatedly opposing smoking bans in bars 6 months after the fact..................There's something wrong with the people here....................
 
:lol: That's a good point. Wouldn't you think that people would be able to smell that rubbing alcohol though? That stuff smells pretty bad and strong. I don't drink scotch though, so I don't really know.

Oh I agree. I really don't see how anyone could mistake rubbing alcohol for scotch. I'm more of a bourbon guy, but I'm familiar enough with scotch to understand that that's kind of nuts. Maybe they were mixing it with things (e.g. scotch and ginger, scotch and soda)? That's the only explanation I can come up with.
 
Actually, Fridays is typical of most asleep at wheel corporations..................Just look at the record of them belatedly opposing smoking bans in bars 6 months after the fact..................There's something wrong with the people here....................

I didn't know about that. It's pretty funny and a little sad.
 
Oh I agree. I really don't see how anyone could mistake rubbing alcohol for scotch. I'm more of a bourbon guy, but I'm familiar enough with scotch to understand that that's kind of nuts. Maybe they were mixing it with things (e.g. scotch and ginger, scotch and soda)? That's the only explanation I can come up with.

I'll bet people got extra sick that night. Bleh! Thinking about the smell of rubbing alcohol and then to think of drinking it is pretty nasty.
 
TGI Fridays. I'm amazed. I wonder if this is an employee theft problem. Who in God's green earth would be stupid enough to substitute alcohol with rubbing alcohol??

NJ Bars Accused of Booze Fraud, Serving Rubbing Alcohol - ABC News

29 bars and restaurants in trouble I have to wonder if its a liquor distributor problem.As far as I know franchises are owned and ran by different individuals while they still have to buy food and other supplies from the company.
 
I saw this earlier today and I was likewise kind of amazed. I think I could accept the possibility that it's an employee theft issue if it happened at one restaurant, but 13? That's management trying to cut some corners.

Its not just those 13.This is one of the reasons I think it could be a liquor distributor problem and not necessarily a owner problem.Franchise restaurants are usually owned by a single individual.Those individual owners buy their supplies and food from the company or stores approved by the company because most chains want their product to taste the same regardless if you eat at a restaurant in New Jersey, California or Oklahoma or even China or Korea.

I'm amazed the customers never noticed they were being served crap.
I suppose if they don't drink all the time or were really trashed its possible that they wouldn't know they were being served crap, especially mixed drinks. As far as straight drinks are concerned you should be able to tell the difference between Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey,unless you were trashed, or don't drink much.
 
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