By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
SPRINGFIELD – Established in 1935 by brothers Stewart “Prestley” and Curtis Blake, Friendly’s family restaurant and ice cream is one of those success stories whose roots sprouted during the Great Depression. At the time, Prestley, 20, and Curtis, 18, had difficulty finding jobs, so their mother suggested they read about this new freezer technology and go into business for themselves.
With $547 borrowed from their parents, the brothers sold double-dip ice cream cones for five cents each. This was half the cost their competition charged. The brothers earned $27.61 on opening day at their Springfield shop, the equivalent of $529.48 today. Not long afterwards, people were lining up to buy Friendly Ice Cream.
Photo/Wikimedia Commons
Demand increases
After demand for their ice cream increased, the Blake brothers opened a second location five years later with a menu that introduced their signature Friendly burger, served with bread instead of a roll. The following year, they added a sundae dubbed the One Dandy Split. However, to assist in the World War II effort, Friendly’s closed operations in 1943 but with a promise to reopen. Placards which read “When we win the war” were posted in the buildings’ windows and the restaurant reopened in 1945 after the war ended. By 1951, there were 10 Friendly’s operating in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.
As for how the family business got its name, Prestley Blake said it was his younger brother Curtis who came up with the name, stating in his autobiography, “We were two friendly guys and we wanted our little store to be a friendly place.” Unfortunately, going into business with family or friends can sometimes come at a price.
The two siblings began fighting over the direction of the business. Curtis thought Prestley was too cautious about spending and stifling the company’s growth. Their dispute, in large part, was the reason for their decision to sell the company to Hershey’s in 1979 for $164 million and less than 10 years later, Hershey’s sold it for a great deal more.
Decline in 1990s
For decades, the chain was known as Friendly, but by the late 1980s, the name was changed to Friendly’s and the company began selling ice cream in supermarkets. By the late 1990s, the company began to flounder, motivating a saddened Prestley to buy up shares. In 2003, he filed a lawsuit against Friendly’s, claiming they misused company funds. The action caused another rift between the brothers with Curtis having said, “My brother forgot we sold the company.”
During its heyday, there were 850 Friendly’s restaurants in the U.S. Now, there are less than 150 remaining offering a full food menu in addition to its signature ice cream. Friendly’s also holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest ice cream party which was held during the restaurant’s 78th birthday in 2013. There were 794 guests in attendance including 98-year-old co-founder Prestley Blake.
Although Friendly’s started out as an ice cream parlor, their best-selling menu item is its Honey BBQ Chicken Melt, according to People magazine. The menu has a touch of whimsy, with its signature frappe called the Fribble, which was previously known as the Awful Awful, for “awful big, awful good.” One suspects the marketing department decided the previous name probably wasn’t helping sales.
In 2011, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to Forbes, “The company cited general economic malaise, rents above current fair market rates, and the increased cost of commodities, specifically cream, as the primary reasons for this action.” In 2020, Friendly’s announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy again as a result of the “catastrophic impact of COVID-19.”
Legacy in education
Curtis Blake died in 2019 at the age of 102 and Prestley Blake passed away in 2021 at the age of 106. Prestley’s autobiography, published a decade earlier in 2011, was called “A Friendly Life.”
The S. Prestley Blake Law Center of Western New England University’s School of Law is named after the Friendly’s co-founder, as is the Blake Student Center at Northfield Mount Hermon School.
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