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Friendly's Grilled Cheese Burgermelt


1000yregg

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Friendly's was my first ever paycheck job. I wasn't yet of legal working age but managed to worm my way in to wash dishes, then scoop ice cream, work the grill/cook and finally wait tables. My career there ended in less than a year. Way back then, we had an item called a "swiss patty melt" which was pretty popular. This was all before Friendly's began its private equity, buyout firm merry-go-round. The swiss patty melt was on rye bread with the burger and just two slices of square swiss cheese and some kind of sauce I can't remember. The "new" grilled cheese burgermelt sounds like an incarnation of the same thing.

I didn't know anything about food when I first donned an apron at Friendly's. If I had to choose between it and McDonalds now, I think I'd fast. Haven't been inside a Friendly's in more than 20 years. Didn't realize we even had them around here. They were a New England/Northeast thing. The company was HQed in Wilbraham, MA.

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I timed a trip to Target poorly, and ended up needing to feed the kids before shopping. If you have the choice between Friendly's and McDonalds, for the love of God, go with McDonald's. Friendly's has bad food, and even worse service.

Back before their expansion and several sales Friendly's was a solid spot. The Blake brothers could be difficult (to say the least - Curt / Pres stories are legendary in the corner of Maine I call a (summer) home, and I have some doozies), but they built a regional chain that served for the most part solid food and ice cream to a broad audience. Ah, memories.

Ending up with 600+ locations wasn't part of their plan, and didn't bode well for the chain overall...

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Back before their expansion and several sales Friendly's was a solid spot. The Blake brothers could be difficult (to say the least - Curt / Pres stories are legendary in the corner of Maine I call a (summer) home, and I have some doozies), but they built a regional chain that served for the most part solid food and ice cream to a broad audience. Ah, memories.

Ending up with 600+ locations wasn't part of their plan, and didn't bode well for the chain overall...

Curt and Pres Blake--yes! That brings back memories. We had their nostalgic picture in the unit where I worked in my very early teens. And, yes, big growth almost never works out that well for people that valued the initial concept. Can work out very well for investors though as it did for some of those that bought and sold Friendly's over the years.

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Curt and Pres Blake--yes! That brings back memories. We had their nostalgic picture in the unit where I worked in my very early teens. And, yes, big growth almost never works out that well for people that valued the initial concept. Can work out very well for investors though as it did for some of those that bought and sold Friendly's over the years.

It's always the fish-a-ma-jigs and fribbles that pay the price...

I grew up with a tradition of celebrating my birthday at the Friendly's in Rockville Mall. All 3 (Friendly's, Rockville Mall, myself) have arguably aged for the worse.

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\ And, yes, big growth almost never works out that well for people that valued the initial concept.

I don't think it was a question of Curt and Pres NOT wanting Friendly's to be bigger, but rather a question of them wanting someone else to deal with the growing. They were certainly not wed to any romantic notions of what Friendly's concept was.
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