What’s next for 3 Myrtle Beach Friendly’s restaurants as chain files for bankruptcy?
A popular restaurant chain with a handful of eateries in Myrtle Beach is citing the economic hardship of the coronavirus for its bankruptcy.
Friendly’s and it’s parent company, FIC Restaurants, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filing allows the restaurant chain to restructure and sell their assets. There are three restaurants in the Myrtle Beach area.
On Sunday FIC announced they entered into a sale with Amici Partners Group who ow and operate several other restaurants.
Nearly all of Friendly’s 130 corporate-owned and franchised restaurant locations are expected to remain open subject to COVID-19 limitations, and the transaction is expected to preserve thousands of corporate-owned restaurant team member and franchisee jobs.
Friendly’s has three locations in the Myrtle Beach area including an Ocean Boulevard location.
According to a news release, Friendly’s has sufficient cash on-hand to continue operations, meet its obligations to employees, franchisees and vendors, and ensure a seamless transition. Upon the sale closing, Amici expects to retain substantially all employees at Friendly’s corporate-owned restaurant locations.
“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,” said George Michel, CEO of FIC Restaurants.
