From 850 stores to 87: what happened to Friendly's
The Springfield ice cream chain has lost about 90% of its restaurants. New owners think they can turn it around.
If you grew up anywhere in New England, you probably have a Friendly's memory. Maybe it was a Fribble after a game or a clown sundae on your birthday. But the chain that used to be on every other corner is barely hanging on now.
A Massachusetts original
Friendly's started right here in Massachusetts. Brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake opened it in Springfield in 1935, in the middle of the Great Depression, selling double-dip cones for a nickel each. A second shop opened in West Springfield in 1940 with a bigger food menu. From there it just kept growing. At its peak the chain had more than 850 locations.
Where things went wrong
The cracks showed up earlier than most people think. Hershey bought the chain for $164 million, and by 1987 Friendly's lost money for the first time as more competing chains popped up and labor got harder to find.
The bigger hit came later. Sun Capital Partners bought Friendly's in 2007 for $337.2 million, and right after that the Great Recession hit. Rising costs and people shifting toward healthier food didn't help either. On top of that, a lot of restaurants got run-down and the menu didn't keep up with the times.
Two bankruptcies
Friendly's filed for Chapter 11 in 2011 and survived it. Then it happened again. After a second bankruptcy in 2020, the chain was bought by Brix Holdings, a Texas restaurant franchiser, in January 2021. The price shows how far the brand had fallen. Brix got Friendly's out of bankruptcy for just $2 million. That's a long way from the $337 million it sold for in 2007.
The closures keep coming
Locals have watched their neighborhood spots disappear one by one. The Route 1 Friendly's in Saugus and the Route 28 location in Falmouth both shut down. The Pembroke location closed for good after 38 years in business. Today, Franchise Times reports the chain has only 87 locations left. That means roughly 90% of the chain is gone.
Is a comeback possible?
Friendly's isn't dead yet. In July 2025, Brix Holdings was bought by Legacy Brands International, a group led by Amol Kohli, who is a Friendly's franchisee. His story is kind of wild. Kohli started at Friendly's at age 15 as a breakfast waiter and now owns and runs more than 30 locations on the East Coast. That's about a third of the whole chain.
The plan is to remodel restaurants and expand. Ownership has been franchising again and pushing the brand outside the Northeast, starting with Texas.
Whether that works is anyone's guess. For now, if you still have a Friendly's near you, it might be worth grabbing a Fribble while you can.