Friendly’s Restaurants LLC, an iconic chain on the East Coast of the U.S. known for its sundaes, became the latest dining institution to go bankrupt amid the pandemic.
The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware on Sunday, according to a filing. It listed estimated liabilities of $50 million to $100 million, and estimated assets of $1 million to $10 million.
FIC Restaurants Inc., which operates the Friendly’s brand, will sell substantially all of its assets to Amici Partners Group, according to a press release. Nearly all of Friendly’s 130 corporate-owned and franchised restaurant locations will likely remain open subject to pandemic limitations, it said.
The pandemic and lockdown have dragged down sales at restaurants around the world, and led many already-struggling eateries to buckle under debt loads. Pizza Hut franchisee’s NPC International Inc., the holding company of Chuck E. Cheese CEC Entertainment Inc. and the U.S. arm of Le Pain Quotidien have sought bankruptcy protection since the Covid-19 crisis started.
This isn’t the brand’s first brush with bankruptcy. In 2011, Friendly Ice Cream Corp. and its subsidiaries, the operator of Friendly’s restaurants and a nationwide distributor of ice cream products, had entered Chapter 11.
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