MARLBORO – Say goodbye to TGI Fridays and hello to Zinburger Wine and Burger Bar.
The Marlboro Planning Board has approved the demolition of the TGI Fridays restaurant at Route 9 north and Union Hill Road and the construction of a Zinburger Wine and Burger Bar restaurant in its place. The application was heard at the board’s April 4 meeting.
The applicant, Briad Development, LLC, licenses and operates TGI Fridays, Wendy’s and Zinburger restaurants in several states. Briad Development is represented by attorney Richard Schkolnick.
James Talerico, the senior director of Briad Development, described the operation of the Zinburger restaurant. He said the hours of operation would be Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The business will employ 75 individuals working different shifts.
Talerico said deliveries of meat will take place two or three times each week. There will be daily deliveries of bread. Board members asked the applicant to designate a parking area for employees.
Testimony indicated Zinburger will total 5,595 square feet, with an enclosed 820-square-foot patio area. There will be 209 seats (152 interior seats and 57 patio seats). The restaurant will also have 17 indoor bar seats and eight outdoor bar seats. There will be minor changes made to existing curbs and sidewalks at the restaurant site.
Zinburger will share a parking lot with ShopRite, Koy Turkish Grill, Home Depot and Dollar Tree. The parking lot has 1,378 spaces, with 79 spaces designated for commuter parking. No changes to the parking lot were proposed in connection with the construction of Zinburger.
Township Engineer Laura Neumann said of the application, “They took their time to diligently look through and make the necessary responses to our questions, not that this is a huge application in the way of development, but I thought they were very responsive and wanted to give the board the best application possible.”
Board Chairman Mark Barenburg, Vice Chairman Andrew Pargament, Township Councilwoman Carol Mazzola, who sits on the board, and board members Christopher Cherbini, Lynn Franco, who is the mayor’s designee, and Steven Kansky voted to approve the Zinburger application.