page_title: Friendly's
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Friendly's / History
caption_attribution_description: English: States with Friendly's Locations
context_page_description: Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the United States' East Coast. Friendly's was founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the Blake brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 employees; George Michel is the CEO. It offers as diner-style cuisine and highlights its 22 ice cream flavors; many locations offer an ice-cream only take-out window alongside of the table service option. A total of 167 Friendly's are spread across Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Vermont.
context_section_description: Friendly's was founded in 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, by brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Blake brothers opened a small ice cream shop named "Friendly", selling double-dip cones for 5 cents each. In 1940, a second Friendly in West Springfield was opened with an expanded food menu. During World War II, the Blakes closed the business until the war's end.
  By 1951, 10 Friendlys were operating in Connecticut and western Massachusetts. The expansion of the company led to the move of headquarters from Springfield to Wilbraham in 1960. By 1974 the chain had grown to 500 restaurants in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Midwest. That year, a food processing and distribution plant opened in Troy, Ohio.
  In 1979, the Blake brothers retired and sold Friendly to Hershey Foods Corporation, which operated the chain as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1988, Donald N. Smith purchased Friendly from the Hershey corporation, with Friendly becoming part of Tennessee Foods. In 1989, Smith added the 's to Friendly, making its colloquial name official.
  In 1997, Friendly Ice Cream Corporation debuted on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol FRND. The stock began at $18 per share, peaking at $26. Around then, 34 stores were sold to DavCo Restaurants, which planned 100 openings in the next 10 years. Despite DavCo's efforts, Friendly's stock price fell to $5.
  Also in 1997, Friendly's exited the Pittsburgh market after an unsuccessful few-year stint, closing all six restaurants, however they were sold and converted to Bob Evans by the spring of 1998.
  In 1998, Kim Andereck was brought in as vice president of franchise development and became instrumental in creating an aggressive franchise program for the chain, which had been company-owned. Now, about 50% of its restaurants are franchise-owned. In summer 2000, Friendly's switched to the American Stock Exchange; symbol FRN. In June 2007, Friendly's appointed president and CEO George Condos; that summer it was bought for $337 million by the private investment firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. In December 2008, Ned R. Lidvall was appointed president and CEO.
  On August 5, 2009, the first Friendly's Express opened in Mansfield, Massachusetts, with three in 2010: April 28 at Coolidge Corner in Brookline, July 7 in Wareham, and September 28 in Methuen.
  On February 10, 2012, Harsha V. Agadi stepped down as chief executive officer. Agadi has invested some of his own money in the company and remains on the board of directors.
  On April 12, 2012, Friendly's announced that John M. Maguire had been named chief executive officer of the company.
  On November 25, 2014 it was announced that all 14 of the Friendly's locations in Ohio would be closing.
  In May 2016, Sun Capital sold Friendly's ice cream manufacturing business and trademark (which will be leased back) to Dean Foods for $155 million.
  On June 20, 2016, Dean Foods announced the acquisition of Friendly's Ice Cream for $155 million. This did not change the ownership of the restaurants, as Sun Capital Partners continues to run the currently existing locations.
  In early 2018, Friendly's opened a new "prototype" restaurant at the Apex Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts, to test delivery, catering, online ordering and a revised menu.
  Friendly's abruptly closed most of their locations in upstate New York April 7, 2019. Several locations in New England were also among the closures.
  Co-founder Curtis Blake died on May 24, 2019 at the age of 102.
  On August 19, 2019, Friendly's closed its North Providence location, its last in Rhode Island.
  In early October 2019, the last remaining restaurant in Virginia closed. It was located in Chester, Virginia.
caption: States with Friendly's locations
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