RISE - Menu Monitor

Menu Positioning |
Friendly's menu features appetizers, breakfast, burgers, entrée salads, sandwiches, dinners, sandwiches and ice cream. Its
signature item is ice cream, including pies, cakes, and rolls with most prepackaged and ready to take home. Frozen yogurt,
sherbet and “no sugar added” ice cream are also available. Ice cream flavors include: chocolate chip cookie dough, black
raspberry, mint chocolate chip, butter pecan, maple walnut, Vienna mocha chunk, strawberry passion, forbidden chocolate and
more. Other signature food items include: Towering Fronions—crispy fried onion rings and strips served with zesty dipping
sauce; Western BBQ—fronions, tangy BBQ sauce, and melted Cheddar cheese; and Oriental Chicken Salad—ginger-glazed
chicken, mandarin oranges, roasted almonds, wonton strips, and field greens.. Breakfast is served all day and includes
traditional breakfast fare such as eggs and omelettes, pancakes, bagels, bacon and sausage and French toast. Menu prices
range from $4.49-10.99 for breakfast entrées, $4.19–$12.99 for lunch and dinner entrées and $2.49–$12.19 for ice cream.
Checks average $10.50.
Expansion Plans |
Friendly’s restaurants will be opened during the next seven years in North Carolina. Clif Bullard of Bullard Restaurant Group
has agreed to open 12 Friendly’s restaurants. The restaurant currently dominates the Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions.
(NRN Daily NewsFax 11/15/06)
Promotion Plans |
Friendly’s has partnered with Apple for a summertime promotion asking teens and young adults to show their devotion to the
brand by screaming about why they love Friendly’s food and ice cream. Customers can submit videos and photos online at
IScreamFriendlys.com, starting on July 6 and continuing for the following seven weeks. Weekly prizes include Apple
televisions, MacBooks, Video iPods with Bose SoundDock systems and Canon digital cameras. Finalists will be judged in a
final contest to determine the grand-prize winner of a $10,000 Apple shopping spree. Second and third place winners will
receive $5,000 and $2,500, respectively. (PromoMagazine.com 6/29/07)
Menu Development |
Friendly’s launched a Homestyle Classic menu featuring three new entrées and two classic dishes. The menu will be available
through the holidays. Offerings include Portabella Steak Tips and Gravy, sirloin tips, portabella mushrooms, rich gravy,
mashed potatoes, garden vegetables and grilled garlic bread; Chicken Marinara, crispy chicken strips covered with mozzarella
cheese, smothered in marinara sauce, sprinkled with a blend of Italian cheeses and served with rice, broccoli and grilled garlic
bread; and Fisherman’s Platter, combining fried shrimp and clam strips with a grilled, breaded filet of flounder, served with rice,
garden vegetables, grilled garlic bread and tartar and cocktail sauces. Other Homestyle Classic menu selections are the BBQ
Chicken Platter and BBQ Style Meatloaf. All meals come with a free Happy Ending Sundae, which guests can turn into a
three-scoop sundae for $1.50 more. (Company Release 10/25/06)
Friendly’s debuted five new sandwiches. All of the selections come with golden fries and pickle chips. They include: • Turkey
Club Deluxe—turkey breast slices, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on three tiers of toasted sourdough bread • Hot
Pastrami Supermelt—New York style pastrami, sautéed onions, melted Swiss cheese and roasted red pepper garlic sauce on
grilled marble rye bread • Southwestern Chicken Supermelt—crispy chicken strips mixed with a chipotle sauce, with bacon and
melted pepper Jack cheese, served on grilled sourdough bread • Frisco Supermelt—burger topped with shredded lettuce,
tomato slices, Thousand Island dressing and melted Cheddar cheese and served on grilled sourdough bread • Friendly’s
Steak Dip—seasoned steak, sautéed onions and Swiss cheese on a grilled hoagie roll with warm au jus dipping sauce.
(Company Website)
Friendly’s introduced new burgers for a limited time: Chicago Firehouse Burger with American cheese, slices of Italian cherry
peppers, red onion, mustard, ketchup, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise; Classic Turkey Burger with roasted red pepper garlic
sauce, Swiss cheese, tomato and lettuce on a grilled bun; Tomato Pesto Provolone Burger, with sundried tomato pesto sauce,
provolone cheese, lettuce, sautéed onions, tomato and mayonnaise on artisan ciabatta bread; Southwestern Bacon Burger,
with pepper Jack cheese, chipotle sauce, tomato, lettuce, bacon and mayonnaise on a grilled bun; BLT Burger, with lettuce,
tomato, bacon and mayonnaise on toasted sourdough bread; and Honey BBQ Burger, with bacon, lettuce, tomato, Cheddar
cheese, mayonnaise and honey BBQ sauce on a grilled bun. The burgers come with pickle chips and fries and are available
from April 16 to May 27. (Company Website 4/17/07)
Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp. will add five flavors of iced lattés and three flavors of the Tropical Chillers frozen fruit beverages.
The beverages will be marketed as snacks. The company will also test Black Angus burgers. (Nation’s Restaurant News
5/21/07 p 15)
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