Nation’s Restaurant News reports that J & B Restaurant Partners, a Friendly’s franchisee based in Long Island, N.Y., closed a third of its 36 locations and filed for bankruptcy protection this month amid steeply declining sales and financial losses.
The move marks the second major closure of Friendly’s locations in recent months. In November, a franchisee in Ohio closed all 14 locations in the state with little explanation, according to reports.
J & B Restaurant Partners has been in business since 2001, and owns restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The company expects to exit its voluntary bankruptcy in six months and remodel at least 11 locations over the next three years.