I was somewhat sad to hear that Friendly’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week.
Friendly’s is a—well, it’s a down-market chain of restaurants with an emphasis on ice cream.
And they had me at “ice cream”.
But it seems they’re caught between the fast-food and sit-down market segments and just haven’t been able to capture much of either.
I freely admit to having contributed very little to the Friendly’s bottom line. I believe the first time I went to one was in Lexington, Mass. It didn’t impress me; we might have had a “meal” there, or it might have been just dessert. And the last time was in Gettysburg, Penn., when it was definitely just ice cream.
But my most vivid memory of them is going to the Friendly’s that was in Herndon, Va. I’d just moved to the area and my friend Carol Ann and I went there for sundaes, which we got from the take-out window. We sat on the grassy slope in front of the restaurant along Elden Street, in the summer evening, eating ice cream and hot fudge, and just talking about…this and that.
I suppose you could get the same experience from a McDonald’s or a Jack-in-the-Box. But you’d have to do it on plastic or tarmac.
Ugh.
2 comments:
It was always a toss-up between Brighams and Friendly's. They were good for a sandwich or a simple meal. But mostly ice cream. Very good ice cream. I was saddened, but not surprised, to hear of their fate.
Friendly's ice cream is the best. When one of my dearest friends passed away I had a Friendly's sundae in her honor. We had many sundaes and for her, many hot dogs (!), there. Two other friends and I covered the table top with empty sundae glasses one night. We suddenly realized they had turned out half the lights and were mopping the floor! The end of an era.
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