Beloved restaurant chain dwindles from 850 locations to 87, but expert sees 'a lot of life left'

A casual-dining chain known for its ice-cream desserts, burgers and family atmosphere that once operated roughly 850 restaurants has dwindled to fewer than 100 locations in 11 states.

Friendly's was founded as the "Friendly" ice-cream shop in Springfield, Massachusetts, by "spunky" brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake in 1935 — at the height of the Great Depression, according to the company's website.

The two young entrepreneurs — Prestley was 20 years old and Curtis was just 18 — sold double-dip cones for 5 cents.

FUDDRUCKERS BECAME THE 'BLOCKBUSTER' OF BURGERS, AND NOW IT'S NEARLY GONE In 1940, they expanded with a second location and began offering food , with hamburgers among the first additions to the menu.

By 1951, there were 10 Friendly restaurants operating in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and by 1974, that number had grown to 500 restaurants across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Friendly's marked its 90th year in business in 2025.

Along the way, the company introduced new food and dessert items to its menu, began distributing its ice cream in supermarkets, set a Guinness World Record for the largest sundae in 1980 and added the apostrophe and "s" to its name in 1989.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS Friendly's also changed hands throughout the decades and filed for bankruptcy twice.

Hershey's acquired Friendly's from the Blakes in 1979 and sold the chain nine years later to Tennessee Restaurant Company.

By the mid-1990s, Friendly's had grown to about 850 restaurants.

Friendly's first filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and again in November 2020.

"Over the last two years, Friendly's has made important strides toward reinvigorating our beloved brand in the face of shifting demographics, increased competition and rising costs," then-Friendly's CEO George Michel said in a news release in 2020.

"Unfortunately, like many restaurant businesses, our progress was suddenly interrupted by the catastrophic impact of COVID, which caused a decline in revenue as dine-in operations ceased for months and re-opened with limited capacity." In 2021, Friendly's announced that Amici Partners Group, LLC had acquired the company and was "dedicated to reinvigorating 130-store restaurant chain." Today, 90% of Friendly's restaurants have closed, and there are 87 locations in 11 Eastern states, The Takeout reported.

Twenty-two of the restaurants – or about 25% of them – are in Massachusetts.