Friendly's restaurants are found in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Friendly's was founded in 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, by brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Blake brothers opened a small ice cream shop named "Friendly", selling double-dip cones for 5 cents each.

[1] In 1979, the Blake brothers retired and sold Friendly to Hershey Foods Corporation, which operated the chain as a wholly owned subsidiary.

[citation needed] Also in 1997, Friendly's exited the Pittsburgh market after an unsuccessful few-year stint, closing all six restaurants, which were sold and converted to Bob Evans by the spring of 1998.

On August 5, 2009, the first Friendly's Express opened in Mansfield, Massachusetts, with three in 2010: April 28 at Coolidge Corner in Brookline, July 7 in Wareham, and September 28 in Methuen.

[15][16] In early 2018, Friendly's opened a new "prototype" restaurant at the Apex Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts, to test delivery, catering, online ordering and a revised menu.

[22] A casualty of a tough economic environment, rising commodity costs, and changing customer tastes, Friendly's announced it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 63 stores in October 2011.

[29] On November 12, 2019, the grocery division of Friendly's, amongst all other associates of its parent company, Dean Foods, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

[30][31] On November 1, 2020, Friendly's announced that it would file for chapter 11 once more and sell "substantially all its assets" to Amici Partners—an affiliate of Brix Holdings—for $2 million, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Blake accused Smith of using the jet for personal use and using the airplane lease to carry $3 million annually from the company into another restaurant chain he controlled.