General Ice Cream Information » Friendly Ice Cream

Friendly Ice Cream

Friendly Ice Cream Corporation (AMEX:FRN), best known for the Friendly's restaurant chain, was founded in 1936 in Springfield, Massachusetts by two teen-aged brothers, 19 year-old Curtis and 21 year-old Priestley Blake. Their first shop served double-dip cones for 4 cents. The brothers opened a second shop five years later in the city West Springfield, Massachusetts and added food to the menu. Within a decade, locations opened throughout western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

In 1978, the Blake brothers retired and sold Friendly's to the Hershey Foods Corporation which continued to operate friendly’s as well as wholly owned subsidiary. In September 1989, friendly’s became part of The Restaurant Company. Currently, more than 600 Friendly's restaurants can be found in 18 states along the East Coast of the United States.

Friendly's is best known for their ice cream products. They serve a variety of sundaes also, including some in funny shapes, such as a clown with an ice cream cone for a hat. They are also served a variety of milkshakes, including a thick milkshake known as a friable. In addition to these ice cream products, Friendly Ice Cream restaurants also offer a ice cream recipes variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, such as hamburgers, French fries, and sandwiches. The company also manufactures ice cream for sale in thousands of supermarkets in 15 states. The company has 17,000 employees, and John Cutter is the company's current president and CEO.

Since 1934, Friendly's has been known for delicious ice cream treats. It had Rich, creamy, indulgent ice cream in all different flavors, made by very own ice cream experts. And, while our roots are in ice cream, we've also become a favorite family place for freshly prepared breakfasts, our famous Big Beefs™ and delicious Super Melts™.

We're proud to be the neighborhood restaurant that you've come to depend on over the years. While we have expanded into many communities since the original Friendly’s was founded in Springfield.