T.G.I. Friday's(R) Restaurants to Unleash 'Ultimate' Recipes from America's Greatest...

T.G.I. Friday's(R) Restaurants to Unleash 'Ultimate' Recipes from America's
Greatest Home Cooks
First Category Winner from Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown To Be
Unveiled at all US Friday's(R) Restaurants Monday February 18

CARROLLTON, Texas, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a nationwide recipe
contest to determine the best of class in categories ranging from chicken to
burgers, T.G.I. Friday's(R) restaurants will begin unleashing this Monday
(February 18) the best of the best from America's greatest home cooks,
unveiling the first of new menu offerings inspired by category winners from
Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060907/DATH025LOGO )
"We are very excited to bring America's greatest recipes to our guests,"
said Mike Archer, president and chief operating officer of T.G.I. Friday's
USA. "These are real recipes from real people and their creations have
inspired menu items that will be featured at over 600 US T.G.I. Friday's
restaurants."
Food Network's Ultimate Recipe showdown premieres Sunday, February 17 at 9
pm ET/PT and is hosted by Marc Summers (Unwrapped) and Guy Fieri (Diners,
Drive-Ins & Dives, Guy's Big Bite). The series features 54 original recipes,
whittled down from thousands of submissions, divided into six categories --
Burgers, Chicken, Comfort Foods, Pasta, Cakes, and Cookies. Every Sunday at 9
pm ET/PT, nine finalists compete under the lights and in front of an
enthusiastic crowd to make the most delicious version of their recipe. A panel
of judges including Katherine Alford (Director, Food Network Test Kitchen),
Kerry Simon (chef and partner at SIMON LA, Simon at Palms Place and CatHouse
at the Luxor) and Russ Parsons (Food Columnist, The Los Angeles Times) then
score each dish on creativity, appearance, ease of execution and taste.
The category winners, in addition to having their recipe crowned as the
"ultimate," wins $25,000 and the chance to have his-or-her recipe featured
nationwide at T.G.I. Friday's restaurants.
Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc., the parent company of T.G.I. Friday's
Inc., is a privately held company owned by Minneapolis-based Carlson, a world
leader in the hospitality, travel and marketing industries. As of February
2008, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide owns, operates, franchises or licenses
more than 1,000 restaurants in 58 countries. For more information, visit
www.fridays.com.
FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network and Web
site that strives to be way more than cooking. The network is committed to
exploring new and different ways to approach food -- through pop culture,
competition, adventure, and travel -- while also expanding its repertoire of
technique-based information. Food Network is distributed to more than 90
million U.S. households and averages more than seven million Web site users
monthly. With headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Knoxville, Food Network can be seen
internationally in Canada, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, the
Philippines, Monaco, Andorra, Africa, France, and the French-speaking
territories in the Caribbean and Polynesia. The E.W. Scripps Company
(NYSE: SSP), which also owns and operates HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network
(www.diynetwork.com), Great American Country (www.gactv.com) and FINE LIVING
(www.fineliving.com), is the manager and general partner.
SOURCE T.G.I. Friday's restaurants

Tom Beyer, of DFPR, +1-480-722-1461, tom@dfpr.com, for T.G.I. Friday's
restaurants