/PRNewswire/ "You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Friendly s Restaurants, known for its burgers, sandwiches and shakes, is giving customers.
A Friendly’s legacy
Friendly’s founder always ‘had to be creating’ and at 106, he had plans to talk with chain’s new CEO
Updated on Feb 21, 2021;
Published on Feb 21, 2021
Friendly Ice Cream co-founder S. Prestley Blake at the Boston Road restaurant in Springfield in September 2014, shortly before he turned 100. The Republican file
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In the final days of his long life, S. Prestley Blake wanted to talk business and that business was Friendly’s.
He had a telephone conference set with Craig Erlich, the new CEO of the Friendly’s restaurant chain.
Blake was excited to talk about the future of the company he and his brother Curtis founded in 1935, his wife Helen Blake shared in the wake of his death on Feb. 11, at the age of 106.
S. Prestley Blake, who brought Fribbles along with friendly, affordable dining to New England, dies at 106
By Joseph P. Kahn Globe Correspondent,Updated February 12, 2021, 7:30 p.m.
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Mr. Blake (right) with his brother Curtis at the Friendly s company conference center in West Springfield in 2001.NANCY PALMIERI
At the dawn of this century, S. Prestley Blake was in his mid-80s and comfortably retired. A cofounder of the Friendly Ice Cream restaurant chain, he was a multimillionaire, avid yachtsman, world traveler, and deep-pocketed philanthropist. On his retirement to-do list: building a $7.5 million replica of Thomas Jeffersonâs Monticello, on property near his Connecticut estate.
S. Prestley Blake ‘a giant of a man’ remembered for drive, energy by wife, Helen
Updated Feb 12, 2021;
Posted Feb 12, 2021
Helen Davis Blake and S. Prestley Blake at the Springfield College President s Gala at MGM Springfield on Oct. 26, 2019. (Ed Cohen photo)
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The drive that made S. Prestley Blake and the Friendly’s chain he founded with his brother, Curtis, in the depths of the Great Depression a success didn’t waiver, even in Blake’s final weeks.
“Pres was always in command, right up until the last minute,” his wife of 38 years, Helen, said Friday. “The most dreaded words every morning were ‘I have an idea’.”
New Friendly’s CEO promises ‘recipe for success’ at restaurant chain that has steadily shrunk for decades
Updated Jan 25, 2021;
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Superman.
Not the man of steel. The ice cream flavor called Superman, which promises vanilla plus yellow, red and blue fruit flavors.
Due out March 15, Superman ice cream is the first of what new CEO Craig Erlich promises will be periodic refreshes of the Friendly’s restaurant menu, with new ice cream flavors paired with returning favorite food items. From March to June, Asian chicken salad and Buffalo chicken salad will return, along with the Heinz 57 burger and the Vermonter burger.