The rise and fall of Friendly's, which just filed for bankruptcy after 85 years in business

The Blake brothers opened their ice cream stand in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the height of the Great Depression, determined to lift people's spirits with the mission of a "friendly" neighborhood business.

Double-dipped cones cost just 5 cents, compared to larger stores that charged 10 cents for a double scoop, according to Boston.com. The brothers' business took off and they made $27.61, or the equivalent of $529.48 today, on opening day.

In addition to the "Friendly burger," the Blake brothers added more elaborate ice cream items to the menu. One such option was the "One Dandy split,'' now known as the "Jim Dandy," which was the Blake brothers' take on a classic banana split.

In 1941, Friendly shut down its locations as a result of World War II. The brothers put signs on their restaurants' windows saying they would reopen "when we win the war." The Blake brothers kept their promise and reopened in 1945 after the war had ended.

In 1950, the chain started selling its ice cream in large take-home containers. By 1951, there were 10 Friendly restaurants across Connecticut and western Massachusetts. The company moved its headquarters from Springfield to Wilbraham, Massachusetts, in 1960. The new headquarters was located adjacently to a creamery which still makes the ice cream that serves much of the Friendly system, according to the company's website.

By 1974, Friendly had grown to a chain of approximately 500 restaurants across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and northeastern United States.

Curtis Blake, who served as the company's president, credited his brother with much of the chain's expansion.

"I never could have done it alone," Blake told the Springfield Republican, according to the Washington Post. "Then as the company grew, he just couldn't think big enough."

Reese's Pieces, Oreos, and Heath Bar Crunch were introduced as sundae toppings as part of the co-branding initiative.

By that time, Friendly offered more than 60 flavors of ice cream in restaurants, as well as the chain's famous holiday Jubilee Roll, created in 1975.

Helmed by executive Donald Smith, the mastermind behind the McDonald's breakfast menu and Pizza Hut's personal pan pizzas, the restaurants were converted into full-service establishments, according to the Boston Globe.

One year after the sale, the name of the restaurant chain was officially changed to "Friendly's."

In 2003, Blake tried to force Donald Smith out of the company with a lawsuit over what he believed was an improper use of a private jet and explore another sale, causing a rift between the brothers, the Boston Globe reported.

According to the Metro West Daily News, Friendly's board of directors investigated the claims and found no evidence of wrongdoing. However, according to Restaurant Business, Donald Smith eventually agreed to reimburse the company anyway for his personal use of the corporate jet.

Throughout the drama over the company's sale, Curtis Blake wrote his older brother, who still held 13% of Friendly's, asking him not to sell. Prestley responded, through the Boston Globe, that he believed he was right and was going forward with the sale anyway.

The feud ended after Sun Capital Partners moved to take Friendly's private for approximately $340 million and Prestley received a $16 million stock sale for his stake in the company.

Curtis Blake died at his home in Florida in May 2019. The brothers had been close in recent years, despite the previous falling out. According to MassLive, Prestley said he had visited Curtis and "was very troubled to see his brother ill."

Prestley Blake is now 105.

In 2009, a new restaurant concept, Friendly's Express, opened in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The following year, three more Friendly's Express locations opened across Massachusetts.

The restaurants were designed to offer customers a faster, more take-out-friendly option compared to the chain's traditional sit-down restaurants. However, all Friendly's Express locations appear to have now closed or been converted into traditional Friendly's restaurants.

According to the Boston Globe, at the time of the filing in 2011, Friendly's had 423 restaurants and more than 6,000 store-level employees. The chain claimed it was in debt $297 million.

The chain cited multiple reasons for the filing, including the 2008 economic recession, increased costs in cream and other commodities, high rents, and "current unrelated liabilities," according to Mass Live. Common customer complaints around that time, according to a 2009 article by Times Union, included inconsistencies in the food between different restaurants and slow service at multiple locations, which the company vowed to address.

In October 2011, following the announcement of the bankruptcy filing, Friendly's closed 63 "underperforming" restaurants.

On November 1, 2011, the US Bankruptcy Court granted Friendly's permission to hold a sale of the company via auction. However, the auction was canceled after no offers were submitted exceeding a $75 million offer made by an affiliate of Friendly Ice Cream Corp, Sun Capital Partners Inc.

In 2012, Friendly's announced that the chain would emerge from bankruptcy protection, but close another 37 locations. Even after emerging from bankruptcy, locations continued to close. All 14 Friendly's locations in Ohio closed in 2014.

According to a 2017 brand loyalty survey by Nation's Restaurant News, only 36% of customers said their last visit to Friendly's was motivated by the brand and not simply out of convenience.

In April 2019, Friendly's abruptly closed most of its locations in upstate New York and several in New England. Later that year, the last remaining Friendly's restaurants in Rhode Island and Virginia also shuttered.

At the chain's height, there were 850 Friendly's restaurants in the United States.

Since 2011, the number of Friendly's restaurants has dwindled from 424 locations to just 138. However, despite the company's recent bankruptcy filing, all remaining restaurants are expected to remain open.

Many suspect that Friendly's financial struggles can be linked to a shrinking American middle class, the downfall of chain restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic, and poor customer satisfaction.

Along with the purchase price of $2 million, Friendly's lenders will waive nearly $88 million of the chain's secured debt, according to an article by Business Insider.

Friendly's CEO George Michel said in a statement that the company had made "important strides toward reinvigorating our beloved brand" during a time of great change.

"Unfortunately, like many restaurant businesses, our progress was suddenly interrupted by the catastrophic impact of COVID-19, which caused a decline in revenue as dine-in operations ceased for months and re-opened with limited capacity," he said in the statement.

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