Friendly’s Ice Cream LLC late on Monday said that it has sold its retail ice cream and manufacturing business to Dallas-based Dean Foods Company.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But in selling the fast-growing maker of Friendly’s Ice Cream, owner Sun Capital Partners Inc. has separated the retail ice cream business from the operator of 260 restaurant locations.
“Today marks a new chapter for Friendly’s retail and manufacturing ice cream business,” Friendly’s CEO John Maguire said in a statement. “Dean Foods Company has recognized the growth momentum that Friendly’s retail ice cream has experienced over the last five years and I am thrilled that Dean Foods will be the ongoing steward of the retail ice cream business.”
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Friendly’s senior restaurant management team will continue to lead the restaurant business, while the retail and creamery teams will lead the retail business that will be part of Dean Foods.
Dean Foods is a large processor and distributor of milk and other dairy products. Under the deal, it will acquire the facility in Wilbraham, Mass., that has produced Friendly’s Ice Cream for the past 45 years.
Friendly’s retail ice cream business has more than doubled its sales over the past five years and is now available in more than 8,000 retail locations across the U.S.
Friendly’s was founded in Springfield, Mass., by brothers Curtis and Prestley Blake in 1935. It was one of the few restaurant chains that operated its own retail manufacturing business. But investors in recent years have been clamoring for such operations to be separated from restaurant businesses so management can focus and to return capital to shareholders and owners.
The private-equity group Sun Capital Partners took Friendly’s private in 2007 in a $337.2 million buyout. At the time, Friendly’s had 515 locations. The chain struggled in the recession that followed and filed for bankruptcy in 2011, emerging the next year, when it hired Maguire from Panera Bread to be its new CEO.
But the chain has seen unit count declines every year since.
Friendly’s revamped its menu in 2014 with new offerings at all dayparts. Maguire said the new menu has been a boost for the chain.
The chain also added something else: Drive-thru windows.
“The restaurants have experienced tremendous growth in sales and guest traffic over the last 15 months,” he said. “Friendly’s restaurants are poised for continued market share growth.”
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