Page 20 - BusinessWest May 16, 2022

Craig Erlich says the mission at Friendly’s
is to create positive experiences — and lasting memories.
WE TALKING CLASSIC ROCK? WE’RE TALKING ROCK 102!
SPRINGFIELD’S CLASSIC ROCK ...AND A LOT OF IT!
Chain of Events
New Ownership Group Seeks to Create Momentum for Friendly’s
By GEORGE O’BRIEN
Craig Erlich can trace his relationship with Friendly’s back to his fifth birthday party at one of the chain’s restaurants. “I have pictures of me with my life-size balloon,” he told
BusinessWest, adding that, over the decades, this relationship has certainly taken many different forms — from customer, to fran- chisee, to his current role as president and CEO, in which he has the responsibility of, well ... creating memories like that of his fifth birthday for future generations of customers.
In other words, Erlich is the latest executive to take on the job of resuscitating a brand that has fallen on some hard times in recent years, as evidenced by the sale price of the Friendly’s chain, then in bankruptcy, to Amici Partners and its
affiliate company, Brix Holdings LLC: $1.9 million.
Ulrich, president and CEO of Amici and Brix, understood that the Friendly’s chain had shrunk dramatically over the years and was struggling to compete with the large number of competitors in the fast-casual family restaurant cat- egory, a situation only made worse by the pandemic. But he ultimately saw promise, and a challenge he was willing to take on.
“
your chance to put your hands on the steering wheel and go from backseat driver to being the driver
... we were really excited about the opportunity.”
When you finally have
“When the opportunity came around
— and the pandemic presented a lot of
opportunities for reshuffling of leader-
ship of brands — we were really pas-
sionate about Friendly’s and what could happen with this brand,” he said. “When you finally have your chance to put your hands on the steering wheel and go from backseat driver to being the driver ... we were really excited about the opportunity.”
Elaborating, he said that he and his partners already had some plans for Friendly’s in mind when they acquired it in December, 2020, and now, some of those plans are coming to fruition.
20 MAY 16, 2022
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