Friendly's has been around for quite a while, longer than I have, or most of us, since the first one opened in 1935. Although, like Dairy Queen, it was known for its ice cream, which is carried in some supermarkets, it has a full menu, including breakfast. Friendly's has fallen on hard times recently. They filed bankruptcy in 2011 and again in 2019 and 2020 but were purchased by a group of restaurant investors and operators in 2021, who announced their plans to keep all of its locations open. However, in the past few years, all of the Friendly's Restaurants that I was aware of in Maine (Bangor, Waterville, Augusta), except for one in Portland, have been closed. We used to eat at the Augusta Friendly's often when we were more involved in politics and published a statewide newspaper, and we've been at the one in Waterville and Portland quite a few times. I don't remember ever even knowing where the one in Bangor was, though. Their ice cream was good, but we usually ordered breakfast or lunch, and that was pretty good, too, comparable to Denny's, back when Denny's was worth going to. The Portland Friendly's is in a great location, along the traffic circle that surrounds the Maine Mall, which is, I think, the largest shopping mall in Maine, and one where most of its spaces are still open. Plus, there are a lot of sizable hotels and other places to stay nearby. We spent the night last night in Portland, and, rather than opting for the complementary scrambled eggs and sausages that come with the room, we decided to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Well, there was a 45-50 minute wait for a table at Cracker Barrel, so we didn't want to hang around for that, so we went to look for another option. About a block away, and on the same street, was an I-Hop, but there was a line out the door and a filled parking lot, so we didn't even try. Across the street was Friendly's. The parking lot was empty, but it was open. We went inside and found that they had one customer sitting alone at a table. They quit serving breakfast at 10:00, and it was after ten by then, so they wouldn't take a breakfast order. What did Cracker Barrel and I-Hop have besides a packed parking lot and people willing to wait for up to an hour for a table? They both serve breakfast all day, which greatly increases their target market because people like to have breakfast when they're staying at a hotel, and they don't always get up early for it. I can see why Friendly's is closing locations. We ended up driving for a couple of hours and eating at Governor's in Waterville, which also serves breakfast all day and was also busy but not so busy that we couldn't get a table.
I bet I haven't been in a Friendly's since the 70s. It was the first restaurant I was at that embarrassed people on their birthdays by having the help sing to them. (Do they still wear the barbershop quartet attire?) The best ice cream place around me outside of DC was Gifford's, home of The Alpine Split *burp*. I don't know why Friendly's isn't busier, except that most people might not think of sit-down dining at an ice cream place (edit to add: and their lack of an all-day breakfast service.) I did not know they served food. I'm told that my local IHOP gets busy, but I've gone there off & on for over 10 years and it's rare that I see a lot of folks there...and it's not that much less expensive than eating at a slightly more upscale place.