Friendly’s Ice Cream plant owner Dean Foods declares bankruptcy - MassLive.com

WILBRAHAM — Dean Foods, owner of the Friendly’s Ice Cream manufacturing business and retail distribution operation on Boston Road, declared bankruptcy Tuesday.

It announced plans to sell all its assets — including the Friendly’s plant — to the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America.

Dean Foods bought Friendly’s Ice Cream manufacturing and retail distribution business in 2016 for $155 million. The company, America’s largest provider of fluid milk for the table, has been victimized in recent years because Americans are drinking less milk and because mega retailer Walmart built its own dairy plants to provide its own supply.

“The actions we are announcing today are designed to enable us to continue serving our customers and operating as normal as we work toward the sale of our business,” said Eric Beringause, who recently joined Dean Foods as president and CEO, in a news release . “We have a strong operational footprint and distribution network, a robust portfolio of leading national brands and extensive private label capabilities, all supported by approximately 15,000 dedicated employees around the country. Despite our best efforts to make our business more agile and cost-efficient, we continue to be impacted by a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption. Importantly, we are continuing to provide customers with an uninterrupted supply of high-quality dairy products, as well as supporting our dairy suppliers and other partners.”

It’s Dean Foods that sells Friendly’s ice cream to supermarkets and also manufactures it for the declining network of Friendly’s Restaurants owned by a separate company called Sun Capital.

Dean Foods employs 200 workers at the 50-year-old Wilbraham plant.

The Friendly’s manufacturing isn’t the only brand Dean Foods owns in Massachusetts.

Its portfolio of brands includes Garelick Farms, DairyPure, TruMoo and ice cream brands Mayfield and Dean’s Country Fresh.

Dean Foods closed its Lynn milk processing plant in 2018 citing low demand. The move cost 300 workers their jobs.

Dairy Farmers of America, has 42 DFA-owned plants nationwide, including eight in the Northeast, according to its website. Dairy Farmers of America merged with Dairylea in 2014. In July, Dairy Farmers of America merged with St. Albans Cooperative Creamery in Vermont.

Dean Foods said it has secured $850 million in financing to support its operations during the process.

Dean Foods stock, which was halted trading Tuesday for news, had closed Monday at 80 cents. It had plunged 79% year to date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 23%.

Brothers S. Prestley and Curtis Blake founded Friendly’s in 1935 with a single storefront in Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood. Curtis Blake died in June at his Florida home at 102. Pres Blake will turn 105 on Nov. 26.

After the Blake brothers sold to Hershey in 1978, the company passed through a number of hands. Sun Capital Partners, which owns the restaurant side of the business, sold the retail ice cream and manufacturing business to Dean Foods in 2016. Dean makes ice cream for Friendly’s restaurants under a 10-year contract.

The chain, not owned by Dean, has been shrinking, down to 158 restaurants from 197 at the beginning of 2019. In April, Friendly’s closed 23 restaurants in five states.

In 1988, when Hershey Foods sold the chain, there were 850 restaurants in 15 states.

Dairy Farmers of America said Tuesday that Dean Foods is its largest customer for raw milk and that its priority is in securing markets for milk from its members' farms.

"Thanks to the strategic planning and management by our farmer Board of Directors and management team, the Cooperative is in a financial position to withstand a situation like this," said Monica Massey, executive vice president and chief of staff, in a news release.

"We remain committed to delivering value to our members and dedicated to preserving the family farm for generations to come.”

Dairy Farmers of America has dairy processing plants/facilities in Bridgeton, New Jersey, New Britain, Connecticut, Pavilion, New York; St. Albans, Vermont and Portland, Maine.

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Friendly’s Ice Cream plant owner Dean Foods declares bankruptcy - MassLive.com
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