The flagship TGI Fridays opened on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1965, but it wasn't the family-friendly operation that exists today. The first T.G.I. Friday's, as it was called then - the company dropped the periods and the apostrophe in 2013 - was the world's first singles bar. The bar was founded by perfume salesman Alan Stillman, an Upper East Side bachelor who himself was looking for a place to mingle with other singles.
Irish restaurants may be struggling amid soaring costs, but a growing number of giant American chains - including Popeyes, Wing Stop and Wendy's - are opening outlets here. So what's behind the US fast food boom? It has been a fortnight since Ireland's first outpost of Taco Bell opened, but the queues remain lengthy. Such has been the demand for the Mexican-inspired American fast-food chain that a canopy has been erected outside its door at the big new Applegreen service station outside Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.