Founded in 1935 as a lone ice cream shop, Friendly's grew at an impressive rate in the decades that followed the Great Depression. As early as the 1940's, Friendly's had added new items to its menu, branching out by serving savory dishes including burgers and expanding its reputation for serving excellent ice cream-based desserts by introducing the Fribble and the Jim Dandy. The brand was so successful that founders S.
Prestley and Curtis Blake were able to sell the chain of some 600 Friendly's restaurants to Hershey's in 1979 for an incredible $164 million. Although Hershey's later sold the chain for more than double this, Friendly's soon started to struggle. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for Friendly's.
However, straying from the brand's specialties of ice cream and American comfort food in the early 2000's likely played its part. As it was sold over and over again, the chain that been so dependable quickly lost its way and customers were soon complaining of rude staff, poor food, and run-down restaurants. By 2011, Friendly's was on its knees and it looked like there was little hope of it surviving.
At this point, no one could have imagined the rollercoaster decade that was to follow. Friendly's filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 In November 2011, Friendly's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company cited several reasons for its failing, including high rent costs, the increased price of commodities such as cream, and restaurant sales that had f.