The 2 Major Signs That Friendly's Is Still Struggling

It may not be the family-friendly fast-casual juggernaut it used to be, but Friendly's is still in business in 11 states — mostly on the East Coast. You can even find Friendly's-branded ice cream for sale at some nationwide grocery stores, including Walmart. But despite the cheery disposition suggested by its name, Friendly's is still showing signs of struggle amid an attempted rebirth.

The 90-year-old restaurant chain's first bankruptcy came in 2011, followed by a second bankruptcy in 2020. Friendly's is now owned by Brix Holdings, a privately-held restaurant franchisor that is attempting to build the business back with restaurant remodels, a brand refresh, and limited closings. "Sometimes to grow you have to shrink," CEO Sherif Mityas told Forbes, regarding the gradual closure of 23 stores.

Unfortunately for Friendly's, its restaurants keep closing, shrinking the brand even further from its 1996 peak of 850 restaurants. And among the locations that do remain, some customers complain online of poor quality food and ice cream alike. These fundamental problems raise questions about the future of Friendly's.

Although Friendly's new corporate ownership acknowledged that some restaurants will have to close in order to keep the business healthy, the closings have shown little sign of slowing down. Just a few years after embarking on its comeback, Friendly's closed four more stores in the northeast corridor — including one at Boston's Logan Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States.

The restaurant business is difficult, and there are many reasons for stores to go under. Friendly's CEO Sherif Mityas told Forbes that he foresaw "having two or three more restaurants" within a year. Not only has the company instead closed four stores, but a planned expansion into Texas in the next year or two has yet to take root.

However, it isn't entirely bad news. As part of its reboot, Friendly's also announced plans to expand into Florida, a state which now hosts one location in Orlando and another in Melbourne.

Despite the recent closures, Friendly's still has 89 restaurants scattered across 11 states. However, not all customers of these existing stores have good things to say about these slowly disappearing family restaurants. 

"Terrible food and the ice cream is OK but not good enough for them to stay in business much longer," one Reddit user predicted. Another Reddit thread featured a nostalgia-seeking Friendly's fan who said that "the food was terrible," though they did like the ice cream, which is actually made by a different company and licensed back to the restaurant. (Just one of the things you may not know about Friendly's.)

Unfortunately, Friendly's ice cream has its enemies too. Reddit users have complained about ingredient swaps in the ice cream ruining the once-beloved flavor. "The difference is night and day. What was a staple product in New England for like half a century is now disgusting slop," one post lamented. Friendly's may still be in danger of becoming a chain restaurant you forgot existed.