Friendly's is headed to bankruptcy, says a report by the Wall Street Journal. There is a Friendly's in Malvern, PA (just as Route 30 becomes Frazer, PA) near Route 29/Morehall Road. This Malvern, Pennsylvania bankruptcy attorney once enjoyed some ice cream there. Reports suggest that the 500+ restaurants have been generally plagued by poor service, average-at-best food quality, and rising costs of butter, corn, and other staples all amidst a period of recessed numbers of diners due to the economy.
The image shown is of Curtis and Prestley Blake, co-founders of the chain (thanks to AP Photo/Nancy Palmieri for the shot). What began as a small ice cream shop by the then teenagers serving double scoops for a nickel in Springfield, Massachusetts turned into a sundae with a $337 million dollar cherry on top when it was bough by Sun Capital Partners in 2007. While no official press release related to a bankruptcy has been issued, and it remains possible Friendly's will avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy altogether, the WSJ report indicates that the preparations are under way.
If you need to prepare a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, King Law Center, a Malvern, Pennsylvania bankruptcy lawyer, can help. While Chapter 11s are certainly far more complex -- requiring the extensive disclosure of particular and detailed assets and debts -- Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies themselves requires ample work. The petitions are in the neighborhood of 40 pages, often more. The documents are signed under penalty of perjury and this requires true, good faith inquiry into what is included. And indeed, that which needs to be included, and how it is to be written, requires an understanding of the forms and the particular needs of the local federal bankruptcy court.
Of course, you may represent yourself. People often do. But I invite you to go to the local 341(a) meetings anytime and take a look at how well it goes for those representing themselves. These cases are often dismissed for failure to conform to the requirements of the petition preparation or trustee document sharing. Debtors are very often required to make multiple appearances at the hearing, hopefully getting it right in the end. A qualified Malvern bankruptcy attorney will assure that your case goes as smoothly as possible. Of course, not everything is seamless, but it is quite common to hear a debtor tell this Malvern bankruptcy lawyer just how surprisingly simple it was because of our help. In all fairness, I hope the same is true for any local bankruptcy practioner.
Our goal is to help debtors. If they choose another local Malvern bankruptcy attorney, that's okay. We hope it goes well for everyone. Since the law is designed to mainly help the creditors, it is comforting to know that qualified local attorneys are here to help those on the other side. I guess, in this case, we all could have bought more ice cream and thereby helped Friendly's avoid what is looking like a forthcoming Chapter 11. It might not even be too late since it is expected that most of the Friendly's restaurants will stay open during the bankruptcy proceeding, due partly to an anticipated loan from Wells Fargo Bank.
If a bank is not offering you $75 million to stay afloat for awhile and you think you might need a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, contact King Law Center, a Malvern bankruptcy lawyer, today.
