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, Bloomberg News reported. The company filed for chapter 11 protection in Delaware yesterday, 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. 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.
