T.G.I. Friday's(R) Restaurants Unleash The 'Ultimate' Beverage

T.G.I. Friday's(R) Restaurants Unleash The 'Ultimate' Beverage

FoodNetwork.com's Ultimate Recipe Beverage Showdown Winner Inspires 'Vanilla Lemon Ice' Available Only at Friday's(R) Restaurants

CARROLLTON, Texas, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- After a nationwide recipe search to determine the ultimate beverage recipe, "Vanilla Lemon Ice," a drink inspired by Leo Cook, a bartender from Bloomington, Indiana, will be featured at over 600 U.S. T.G.I. Friday's(R) restaurants (www.fridays.com) beginning today.

Following online video submissions in January, Cook's recipe was named one of three finalists; in late January, Cook received the most online votes and his creation won the Ultimate Beverage crown. In addition to having his beverage creation featured at Friday's, Cook received a trip for two to Las Vegas.

"We were overwhelmed by the amount of awesome recipes for the Ultimate Recipe Beverage Showdown," said Andrew Jordan, senior vice president of marketing for T.G.I. Friday's USA. "In the end, Vanilla Lemon Ice became the undeniable champion and we can't wait to bring this refreshing lemon delight to our guests."

"I hope you enjoy drinking this as much as I enjoyed making it," said Cook, whose Vanilla Lemon Ice includes Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka, triple sec, lemonade and Sprite(R).

Vanilla Lemon Ice joins the list of Ultimate recipes now being featured at Friday's. Earlier this year, three entrees and one dessert were judged to be best in class by a panel of food experts on Food Network's "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" - a six-week series featuring everyday folks with the best recipes in America pitting their best dishes against one another for a $25,000 prize, national acclaim and the chance to have his or her recipe featured nationwide at T.G.I. Friday's. This is the second consecutive year in which winning recipes from the show have inspired entrees on the Friday's menu and the first in which an Ultimate Beverage has been chosen.

Food Network's "Ultimate Recipe Showdown," hosted by Guy Fieri, concluded its second season last night. The show featured original recipes, whittled down from thousands of submissions, in six categories -- Comfort Food, Burgers, Cakes, Hot & Spicy, Desserts and Hometown Favorites.

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 2009, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide owns, operates, franchises or licenses more than 1,000 restaurants in 60 countries. For more information, visit http://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 98 million U.S. households and averages more than 9 million unique Web site users monthly. Food Network programming is available internationally in more than 150 countries. Food Network is headquartered in New York, and maintains offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Knoxville, Tenn. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI) , which also owns and operates HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Great American Country (www.gactv.com) and Fine Living Network (www.fineliving.com), is the manager and general partner.

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Source: T.G.I. Friday's restaurants

CONTACT: Derek Farley of DFPR, +1-704-926-6580, derek@dfpr.com, for
T.G.I. Friday's restaurants

Web Site: http://www.fridays.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment