Drama aside, the brand has become associated with some iconic American appetizers, with potato skins being the restaurant's strongest point of pride. As TGI Fridays claims, one of the restaurant's crafty cooks created the concoction one night in 1974 with leftover potato scraps. As the story goes, he dropped the excess scooped-out potato into the deep-fryer, seasoned it liberally, added shredded cheese and crispy bacon, and ta-da - a potato skin.