Riverhead Friendly’s building slated for subdivision into two restaurant spaces

The owner of the Route 58 building occupied by Friendly’s Restaurant is seeking approvals to renovate the building to create two separate restaurants, raising questions about the future of the last Friendly’s location on the East End.

A Friendly’s Restaurant has operated out of the location at 949 Old Country Road, just east of the traffic circle, for nearly 40 years. It has been run by J&B Restaurant Partners, the franchisee that runs Friendly’s restaurants across Long Island.

Bell Boulevard Realty LLC, owner of the property has filed a site plan application with the Riverhead Riverhead Planning Department detailing plans to renovate the existing 4,268 square-foot building and divide it into two separate restaurants. The east side of the building would be made into a QDOBA, a national Mexican restaurant chain, with 38 indoor seats, eight outdoor seats and a drive-through. The west side of the building would be converted into a restaurant with 50 indoor seats.  No information was provided about the restaurant that would occupy that part of the building.

Word of the plans aired before the Riverhead Planning Board on Thursday left restaurant employees wondering about the restaurant’s future. An employee there who answered the phone Thursday was unaware of the plans.

A representative of franchisee J&B Restaurant Partners could not be reached for comment Friday. The Friendly’s Restaurants corporate office did not return a call seeking comment. The principal in Bell Realty was on vacation this week and unavailable for an interview, according to a secretary in the office.

More than half a dozen Friendly’s restaurants have closed on Long Island in the last five years, including most recently in Ronkonkoma, according to Newsday. There are 10 Friendly’s across Long Island, including the Riverhead location. The first “Friendly” ice cream shop was founded by the Blake Brothers in 1935. There are 104 Friendly’s locations in the U.S., most of them in the northeast, according to the data company ScrapeHero.

J&B Restaurant Partners, which owned all Friendly’s franchises in Nassau and Suffolk, sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in 2015 as a part of a restructuring plan that allowed it to close unprofitable restaurants and reduce its debt, according to Reuters.

Jaclyn Peranteau of Key Civil Engineering, representing QDOBA franchisee Burger Brothers in front of the Riverhead Planning Board Thursday, described QDOBA as a “fast-casual” restaurant similar to Chipotle. Burger Brothers also operates the Burger King across the street from the Friendly’s building, Peranteau said.

The building will be redecorated for the QDOBA and its parking lot reconfigured to accommodate a drive-thru on the east side of the building, Riverhead Planner Heather Trojanowski said. Other planned improvements to the site include new landscaping and the addition of cooler boxes.

The Riverhead Planning Board yesterday unanimously approved a resolution setting a public hearing on the project’s site plan application for Sept. 5 at 6 p.m..