Friendly’s Filing For Bankruptcy: Will It Remain Open in CNY?
Another restaurant chain is filing for bankruptcy amid the coronavirus pandemic. The parent company of Friendly’s restaurants has announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company announced in a press release that they sold "substantially all of its assets" to Amici Partners Group, LLC as part of their Chapter 11 filing.
"Unfortunately, like many restaurant businesses, our progress was suddenly interrupted by the catastrophic impact of COVID-19, which caused a decline in revenue as dine-in operations ceased for months and re-opened with limited capacity," George Michel, CEO of FIC Restaurants, said in the release. "We believe the voluntary bankruptcy filing and planned sale to a new, deeply experienced restaurant group will enable Friendly’s to rebound from the pandemic as a stronger business, with the leadership and resources needed to continue to invest in the business and serve loyal patrons, as well as compete to win new customers over the long term."
What does this mean for the locations in Central New York?
The plan is to keep "nearly all" of Friendly's 130 locations open during the sale process and said in the release that Amici expects to "retain substantially all employees" at the corporate-owned Friendly's locations. This means they will still operate as usual.
According to the press release, Friendly’s has sufficient cash on-hand to continue operations, meet its obligations to employees, franchisees and vendors, and ensure a seamless transition.
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