Speaker 1: It's nice with Dan on Dell Boston Radio.
Speaker 2: I just follow up last hour.
Speaker 1: I know that I was talking to Rob of the
Speaker 1: Grand Wizard of Professional Wrestling, which we talked. We mentioned
Speaker 1: him in passing in Joe and I'm a renaissance man
Speaker 1: and that I follow lots of issues. But they say
Speaker 1: that the only person whose intellect might have approached the
Speaker 1: intellect of the Grand Wizard of Professional Wrestling was none
Speaker 1: other than Albert Einstein. And there's a there's a debate
Speaker 1: in the intellectual academic community as to who actually was
Speaker 1: a you know, just had a higher IQ, the Grand
Speaker 1: Wizard of Professional Wrestling or Albert Einstein. It can be
Speaker 1: argued either way. But I just just would put the
Speaker 1: the exclamation point on that we are changing topics and
Speaker 1: we have Sharif Mit yes with us.
Speaker 2: Sharif.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're a wrestling fan, but one
Speaker 1: of our call his last hour told me that he
Speaker 1: was driving he drives home every night, and he had
Speaker 1: been at a show and so he mentioned that. I said, well,
Speaker 1: what musical instrument. You know, most of these folks are
Speaker 1: who listened to us, they they're musicians. And he said
Speaker 1: that that he had been a he had been in
Speaker 1: a participating in a wrestling show.
Speaker 2: Uh, and he.
Speaker 1: I asked him if he was a wrestling said he
Speaker 1: was a wrestling manager. So obviously that immediately. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you remember the grid Wizard of professional wrestling,
Speaker 1: and I know that you're not prepared to talk about
Speaker 1: this in any great detail, shearif because it's a little
Speaker 1: off topic. But he was quite an intellect at his time,
Speaker 1: that's for sure.
Speaker 2: How are you.
Speaker 3: Tonight, I'm doing great And I wrestled in high school,
Speaker 3: but not not the not the w w ee kind.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well this was Yeah, the Grand Wizard was a
Speaker 1: he was a manager, and uh he was.
Speaker 2: He was a brilliant tactician. Let me put it like that.
Speaker 1: You know, in his sports, there has never been has
Speaker 1: never been touched by scandal, as one of my predecessors,
Speaker 1: Eddie Andaman used to remind us.
Speaker 2: Which is true.
Speaker 1: It was never touched by any form of rigging or
Speaker 1: scandal or anything like that.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of the other sports have had.
Speaker 1: You know, Baseball had their black socks scandal, and there's
Speaker 1: been some college basketball scandals, and we remember Paul Horning
Speaker 1: and Alex Carris, who who lost the year for some
Speaker 1: and Pete Rose and all of that, but pro wrestling
Speaker 1: has been, you know, a very upstanding sport in this country. Anyway,
Speaker 1: there you go, Yeah, look up the Grand Wizard of
Speaker 1: professional wrestling. You'll you'll understand this brilliance. That is not
Speaker 1: what we're talking about. Uh Sharif bit Yes, I was
Speaker 1: a guest of us earlier this week. He is the
Speaker 1: CEO of a company called Bricks Holdings. And you're gonna say,
Speaker 1: oh damn, we're doing some heavy duty economics. Yeah we are,
Speaker 1: but it's interesting economics. Tell Bricks Holdings. What does your
Speaker 1: company do?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So we're a franchisor of eight restaurant brands. So we
Speaker 3: have over three hundred locations and forty some states around
Speaker 3: the country, and the one that your listeners will probably
Speaker 3: know the most is the Friendlies chain Family Dining at
Speaker 3: its best our ninetieth birthday this year. We still have
Speaker 3: some great stores around Boston and Pembrooke and Norwood and
Speaker 3: South Weymouth and a few other sites. But we've got
Speaker 3: ninety two stores up and down the Eastern seaboard and
Speaker 3: we love serving memories, as we call it, an ice cream.
Speaker 1: Another guests yeah, a lot of people. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I should mention that you're not a Massachusetts native, but
Speaker 1: you went to school here and graduated from Boston University
Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty nine, so you've been in this
Speaker 1: business for a while. I want to talk about Friendlies
Speaker 1: because Friendlies kind of disappeared here although I had was
Speaker 1: red reminded. You know, Friendlies was founded in western New
Speaker 1: England and I think it goes back to the nineteen
Speaker 1: thirties if I'm not mistaken, and it was a it
Speaker 1: was a standard restaurant here for most of my life,
Speaker 1: and then it did enter bankruptcy.
Speaker 2: But you folks have.
Speaker 1: Taken them out of break bankruptcy and now Friendlies is
Speaker 1: owned by your company, Bricks Holdings, and you're bringing them back,
Speaker 1: and that's going to delight a lot of people.
Speaker 4: We are.
Speaker 3: We just thought when it was in bankruptcy, it was
Speaker 3: just it was a brand that had too much still connection, right,
Speaker 3: there were so many memories out there with guests that
Speaker 3: we felt at the bones, so to speak of the
Speaker 3: brand were so strong that we could bring it back.
Speaker 3: And we're so excited to bring it back and to
Speaker 3: grow this venerable chain again, to your point starting, you know,
Speaker 3: nineteen thirty six, and so it's been around for so long,
Speaker 3: and we just opened our latest new store down to Orlando, Florida,
Speaker 3: brand new, beautiful store, and that we have many more
Speaker 3: planned for the Eastern Seaboard.
Speaker 1: And the new incarnation. And I know it's a little
Speaker 1: more complicated than that in the sense that Friendlies ran
Speaker 1: into some trouble. A lot of these restaurants were in
Speaker 1: into trouble in COVID times, and you folks have taken
Speaker 1: a look at it, and there are still I think
Speaker 1: you told me seventy franchise locations that are still operational,
Speaker 1: and we now roll up the forty corporate locations. You're
Speaker 1: going to have one hundred and ten approximately restaurants in
Speaker 1: thirteen states, and the Friendlies will be back. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a great you know, it's it's it's a legacy restaurant,
Speaker 1: and and when we lose restaurants like that, it's it's
Speaker 1: a little frustrating. So, uh, let's let's talk about Friendlies.
Speaker 1: But I also want to remind people, uh as we
Speaker 1: talk today that COVID not only had an impact on Friendlies,
Speaker 1: but Red Lobster t G I F. Friday's Buca di Beppa,
Speaker 1: which is one of my favorites. Uh, a nationwide chain,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned a couple of others on the border
Speaker 1: and Hooters, which I know is a controversial restaurant that
Speaker 1: that sort of lost. It's uh, it's panache, if you will.
Speaker 1: But then you also mentioned, like someone just told me
Speaker 1: that ground Round is back in business. There was I
Speaker 1: got an email from a listener. But, uh, are there
Speaker 1: any ground Round restaurants left as far as.
Speaker 3: You know, Well, yeah, I think there's there. There could
Speaker 3: be the one that they're trying to resurrect. And so
Speaker 3: there are some old brands out there. You mean, you
Speaker 3: had Benegan's right, and you had Steak and Ale, and
Speaker 3: there's these really old brands that people remember they unfortunately
Speaker 3: died out, and you know, there's there's brave souls out
Speaker 3: there that are trying to resurrect them. And it's it's
Speaker 3: hard though. The restaurant business is tough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you also just to sort of flesh out your
Speaker 1: expertise in your background. There's a bunch of other restaurants
Speaker 1: that that you folks run, and some of them I'm
Speaker 1: familiar with, some of them, I'm not Orange Leaf, which
Speaker 1: is a frozen yogurt restaurant, Red mango quean juice, which
Speaker 1: I guess is organic juice, and that's down in the South.
Speaker 1: Is it Super Salad that's a buffet restaurant, Super Salad.
Speaker 3: That's right, super solid yep. And then we have Smoothie
Speaker 3: Factory plus kitchen yep, our smoothie concept.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1: So what I want to do when I come back,
Speaker 1: I want to talk with you in greater depth and
Speaker 1: I'm hoping callers will join us as to what restaurants
Speaker 1: would they like to see come back, uh, and and
Speaker 1: you would be able to give us some updates on them.
Speaker 1: But I also want to talk to you about the
Speaker 1: restaurant industry. And you know these these are chains which
Speaker 1: a lot of the chains have survived. I mean McDonald's,
Speaker 1: which give you give me a choice between going to
Speaker 1: McDonald's and a Friendly's. I'm gonna pick Friendlies every day
Speaker 1: of the week and twice on Sunday.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: And there's nothing, there's nothing to compare.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: The only one that has come along recently that I
Speaker 1: think is really a great, family style and inexpensive restaurant.
Speaker 1: I like Olive Garden, but Chick fil A, which has
Speaker 1: a little bit of controversy with it, but that's doing
Speaker 1: gangbusters from what I understand.
Speaker 3: It really is. Yeah, they've they've kind of broken the formula,
Speaker 3: so to speak. And uh, they're they're on a growth street.
Speaker 1: One other restaurant that I know a little bit about,
Speaker 1: how is Popeye's doing. Is that on the upside or
Speaker 1: is it slowing down?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, they they had a massive, let's call it,
Speaker 3: social media introduction of their new chicken sandwich and they
Speaker 3: were selling out within minutes. But this was, you know,
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, you know, so they're still
Speaker 3: doing okay, you know, kind of riding that wave that
Speaker 3: chicken is still a very hot cuisine type. As you
Speaker 3: think about the wingstops of the world and the Chick
Speaker 3: fil haze of the world, you know, chicken is something
Speaker 3: that's really caught fire basically across the country and supporting
Speaker 3: a lot of these chains.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little more healthy than some of the some
Speaker 1: of the meat products and all of that, So we
Speaker 1: get that. But my guest is a Sharif Mitt. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's the CEO of Brick Holdings. Bricks Holdings, which is
Speaker 1: going to bring back Friendlies, the restaurant chain Friendlies, which
Speaker 1: is going to emerge. Has it emerged already from bankruptcy
Speaker 1: or was the process still underway?
Speaker 3: No, we emerged. We bought it out of bankruptcy back
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one, and so we're back on a
Speaker 3: growth trajectory now, okay, and.
Speaker 1: You will have a footprint here in Massachusetts. I see
Speaker 1: right now that you have one on Providence Highway, which
Speaker 1: I think is in Denham. There's another one here. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure what town. They give me the addresses, but
Speaker 1: they don't give me the towns.
Speaker 3: What are some of the and Pembrooke and South Weymouth
Speaker 3: and Norwood those we have four stores right now Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: Okay, Norwood is probably the Providence Highway address, that's right,
Speaker 1: I know. Yeah, Okay, I see where that one is.
Speaker 1: All right, We'll going to take a break if you
Speaker 1: like to join the conversation and ask about a favorite
Speaker 1: restaurant of viewers that you haven't seen. Look, I remember
Speaker 1: when the last I think there's finally one Howard Johnson
Speaker 1: that is still operational up in Maine, and that was
Speaker 1: it's like, how do you mess up Howard Johnson's. But somehow,
Speaker 1: some way it did it went out of business.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, that was one that everybody in New England knew.
Speaker 2: At least I was.
Speaker 1: Very familiar with Howard Johnson's. It was like it was
Speaker 1: it was like when you were going to go out
Speaker 1: and have some fine dining, were you'd go to Howard Johnson's. Anyway,
Speaker 1: if you like to join the conversation talking about restaurants
Speaker 1: six one seven, two thirty six one seven, nine three,
Speaker 1: ten thirty And I'll tell you when I talked earlier
Speaker 1: today with my guests Shariff mitt Yes, I was asking
Speaker 1: him about restaurants all over the country, and he has
Speaker 1: a very good grasp on the uh the industry that
Speaker 1: he is in, and his company basically brings restaurants back.
Speaker 1: I hope you can bring Buca to Peppa back because
Speaker 1: I loved that restaurant. I mean I loved. I loved
Speaker 1: the lemon cellos for dessert. That's what I most loved.
Speaker 1: Take a break, coming right back on Nightside, the only
Speaker 1: lines open on six one seven.
Speaker 2: Back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 4: It's night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Our guest is Sharif Mityas Met.
Speaker 1: Yes, the CEO of Bricks Holdings, and amongst other things,
Speaker 1: they are bringing friendlies back, Friendly's restaurants back to life.
Speaker 1: Let's get to a phone call, see what people I
Speaker 1: want to talk about. Let me go to Gary in Woburn, Massachusetts. Gary,
Speaker 1: welcome first this hour and nightside right head Gary.
Speaker 7: My question is this is Papa is considered a rush?
Speaker 6: Thanks?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: I considered a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Let's see what Scharife has to say because he can
Speaker 1: and I guess Papa Gino's has also gone. Scharife, are
Speaker 1: you familiar with Papa Gino's.
Speaker 3: I am yeah. And you know, basically, Gary, you know,
Speaker 3: any we consider any place that gets out there and
Speaker 3: serves guests food or beverage is a restaurant. Now, there's
Speaker 3: lots of different things. There's quick serve restaurants, there's food trucks,
Speaker 3: there's fast casual, there's fine dining, there's casual dining. But
Speaker 3: they're all restaurants. If they serve food, we consider them.
Speaker 3: You know, a place of an establishment that would be
Speaker 3: termed a restaurant.
Speaker 7: Okay, we all know that pizza is a big favorite
Speaker 7: among people. Of course, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday when they had
Speaker 7: it for about five to seven years, Sharif, it was
Speaker 7: the Ali can eat type of pizza in between four
Speaker 7: and eight o'clock, which went for six dollars. Then it
Speaker 7: went down to five dollars. Now they don't have it anymore.
Speaker 7: And I don't know if you're familiar with that. When
Speaker 7: they had the all you can eat for a Monday
Speaker 7: to Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Yep, Well, I say, Gary, I thought Papa Gino's was gone.
Speaker 1: They still Is there still a Papa Ginos that you
Speaker 1: go into.
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, they have them in the Hayrold, Massachusetts, Settle Mahantsta
Speaker 7: and so top of them on that valley.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let me let me ask Shariff and stay
Speaker 1: right there, Gary, Sharif, did Papa Ginos go through a
Speaker 1: re York?
Speaker 3: They they did, but they're still around. Yeah, they're still operating.
Speaker 3: And but Gary, your point, you know, you see a
Speaker 3: lot of these folks now that I have to pull
Speaker 3: back on some of these deals, right because we've all
Speaker 3: been to the grocery store. We all see what's happening
Speaker 3: on prices, and unfortunately, some of these restaurants run on
Speaker 3: very thin margins, right, and so they're they're they're having
Speaker 3: a balancing act. Right, They don't want to alienate their guests.
Speaker 3: They want to make sure people come back and understand
Speaker 3: they can get a good deal. But those all you
Speaker 3: can eat That's what happened to Red Lobster, right, all
Speaker 3: you can eat shrimp. They went into bankruptcy. And so
Speaker 3: you've got to be careful in terms of just giving
Speaker 3: too much away while still providing great value for your guests.
Speaker 7: Okay, and before I let you go, both co I
Speaker 7: went to Florida twenty years ago, just give me a
Speaker 7: little trivia questions. It was McDonald's six o'clock on a
Speaker 7: Friday night.
Speaker 6: Who was there?
Speaker 7: The customers and the workers, But was there anybody else there?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 7: And you know the reason why you can go anywhere
Speaker 7: in Florida at six o'clock. And there was only me
Speaker 7: and my girlfriend at six o'clock on a Friday night
Speaker 7: in Florida.
Speaker 1: Which, okay, we lost care there. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that story of what relevance that story had, but it
Speaker 1: was an interesting story.
Speaker 2: I guess the Early Broode special was over.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Let's go next to Glenn in Brighton, Massachusetts. Glenn, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you listened earlier, but Joan from Alaska
Speaker 1: called in and she she mentioned your name, by the way, Oh.
Speaker 6: I didn't while I was taking an app earlier.
Speaker 2: Well, you gotta, you gotta listen.
Speaker 1: Then to the eleven o'clock to the ten o'clock hour,
Speaker 1: Joan from a last was talking about a program she
Speaker 1: is involved with in which she volunteers to help people
Speaker 1: who are non sighted or blind whichever you know word phase.
Speaker 1: I know you take the word blind and use that
Speaker 1: and we're going to do something to us in service. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so she was she mentioned so she said that this
Speaker 1: is a great program. We will talk about it sometimes.
Speaker 1: If not tomorrow night, we'll talk about it sometime next week.
Speaker 1: You're on with my guest, Shariff mid Yes, the CEO
Speaker 1: of Bricks Holdings.
Speaker 6: What's your question, Glenn, this is a great topic. The restaurant.
Speaker 6: I don't want this to saw like a pinting party,
Speaker 6: but my favorite restaurant will go on round because I
Speaker 6: don't have a family to go to on greasepas and
Speaker 6: taste even you know, the holidays are very depressing for
Speaker 6: me and I used to you know this, They used
Speaker 6: to be one in my neighborhood to oh for In fact,
Speaker 6: I was in I was in the ground Rattle when
Speaker 6: they came and proved it down. They wouldn't let anybody
Speaker 6: finish their food. I don't know.
Speaker 1: You might say, you're getting you had your food in
Speaker 1: front of you and they came in here and close
Speaker 1: it down and they.
Speaker 6: Give it was it was four thirty thirteenth of oh four.
Speaker 2: That's a little bit.
Speaker 1: So these these weren't like the police, Glenn. These were
Speaker 1: the people who were closing it.
Speaker 6: Were corporate monkey marcks.
Speaker 1: Die student ties. Glenn. By the way, have you heard
Speaker 1: stories like that in your experienced.
Speaker 3: Reief I I unfortunately have not heard stories like that.
Speaker 3: That's a new one for me. Yeah, so that's not
Speaker 3: usually normal practice we we I if if we seek
Speaker 3: stores closing, they usually happen at the end of the
Speaker 3: night when there's no guest.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Well that's a tough one.
Speaker 1: What's the future of ground Round if any I know
Speaker 1: we mentioned that one today. Is that gone for good?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 3: It probably is, but you know, there again, there might
Speaker 3: be one or two that are trying to resurrect it.
Speaker 3: It's it's going to be tough though, I mean, competition
Speaker 3: in that space is very hard, and so if you're
Speaker 3: a restaurant. You don't have something unique, you don't have
Speaker 3: something that draws guests, and it's going to be tough
Speaker 3: to bring that back.
Speaker 1: So so ground round was was I maybe I'm using
Speaker 1: the wrong terminology here. Help me out. Family style restaurant, right,
Speaker 1: family restaurant. Yes, kids, kids are welcome, So you could
Speaker 1: go in there with your wife and you might have
Speaker 1: a family with some kids next year. You knew, you
Speaker 1: knew you took that chance. Did that hurt them or
Speaker 1: I assumed that was the backbone of their their customer base?
Speaker 3: You No, it was, And I mean we still have lots.
Speaker 3: I mean there's friendlies, right, there's lots of great family dining.
Speaker 3: You think about Chili's, you think about Applebee's, you think
Speaker 3: about you know, there's still chains out there that that
Speaker 3: cater to that family dining experience. Still offer a little
Speaker 3: bit of alcohol. Obviously they have a bar right for
Speaker 3: the dads and the moms, but you know there's still
Speaker 3: a place for those. But you've got you've got to
Speaker 3: provide a great experience. You've got to provide something that's differentiated,
Speaker 3: and you've got to provide something that's going to make
Speaker 3: those guests come back or unfortunately again, competition is pretty stiff.
Speaker 1: Who's amongst those type restaurants, who's doing the best job
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 2: In your opinion?
Speaker 3: Right now? Hands down, it's Chili's. You know, Chili's has
Speaker 3: been able to not only keep the guests that remember
Speaker 3: the Chilies of old. You know, you all know the jingle, right,
Speaker 3: my baby back red jingle, but they've been able to
Speaker 3: connect with the younger generation, the Gen z ers and
Speaker 3: Gen xers. They're on TikTok on Instagram. They're showing, you know,
Speaker 3: their appetite the plates where lots of kids can share
Speaker 3: food and cheaply. They got a great ten ninety nine
Speaker 3: deal that again screams value for folks that are you know,
Speaker 3: they're looking at their wallets right now and saying, can
Speaker 3: I go out? So Chili's is hitting on all cylinders
Speaker 3: right now and doing a really great job in the
Speaker 3: casual dining space.
Speaker 1: All right, Glenn, we're getting close to the news here.
Speaker 1: You got another question of comment.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they have a first restaurant to give me a
Speaker 6: braille menu. I still have a pro prosperity, even though
Speaker 6: you know there's no more, there's no more.
Speaker 2: Okay, and good.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was a traveling salesman in seventy three. We
Speaker 6: went to the ground, round and framing him, and my
Speaker 6: dad goes, do you guys throw tinut shells on the floor.
Speaker 6: I'd kill my son if he did that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what they did. That's what they did. All right, Glenn,
Speaker 1: appreciate the call, have a good one. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: We got to take quick break here. We'll see you Sunday,
Speaker 1: See you Sunday, Glenn. We're got to take quick break
Speaker 1: six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty six one
Speaker 1: seven ninety there's a restaurant up here. Again you probably
Speaker 1: are always familiar with this. We call them the ninety nine.
Speaker 1: Their still doing fine, right, that's right.
Speaker 3: They are very good.
Speaker 1: And they're not compete I don't know which ones compete
Speaker 1: with which ones. When we talk about a chili's, are
Speaker 1: they in the same space as in ninety nine or
Speaker 1: is that a difference?
Speaker 2: Are they able to differentiate a different space?
Speaker 3: They're they're slightly differentiated, right, because again they're they they've
Speaker 3: done a little bit broader of a menu. They're a
Speaker 3: little bit different clientele. But you know, again, it's it's
Speaker 3: their shades of Gray at that point.
Speaker 1: Gotcha, gotcha. My guest is the CEO of a company
Speaker 1: called Bricks Holdings.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: They are bringing Friendlies and have brought Friendlies out of bankruptcy,
Speaker 1: so they will be coming back. We can talk about
Speaker 1: your favorite restaurants if you'd like six one seven, two,
Speaker 1: five four, ten thirty and we have a line open
Speaker 1: at six one seven nine to take a very quick
Speaker 1: break here back on night side right after the news radio.
Speaker 1: All right, let's keep rolling here. My guest is Sharif Mitt. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's the CEO of Bricks Holdings. They're a company that
Speaker 1: really deals with restaurants, restaurants in trouble, and sometimes they
Speaker 1: invest they take a company out of bankruptcy, a restaurant
Speaker 1: out of bankruptcy, as they're doing with Friendlies. You were
Speaker 1: going to see a revival of Friendlies and that's going
Speaker 1: to make a lot of people happy. There were so
Speaker 1: many different restaurants we could talk about. If you want
Speaker 1: to raise a restaurant or ask a question about what
Speaker 1: it's fate, you were more than welcome. The only lines
Speaker 1: open six one seven, nine, three one, ten thirty and
Speaker 1: you do not have to leave it here to New England.
Speaker 2: Restaurants.
Speaker 1: You can call from whatever part of the country you
Speaker 1: want you would like. We had a lot of calls
Speaker 1: from New Hampshire last hour, and we had a check
Speaker 1: in earlier with Lauriot in Idaho, and as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: Joan in Alaska called, let's go next to John little
Speaker 1: closer to home. My friend John is right here in Boston. John,
Speaker 1: you were next, You're Aline Sharif Mitt, Yes, go right ahead, John.
Speaker 4: Yes, all right. One Shawn Howe Nihama, Yeah, how I
Speaker 4: wanted to ask you if Ground Brown is back in Shrewsbury.
Speaker 4: Is that correct Massachusetts?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, I think there's one back.
Speaker 4: I think they did. They bring back Bingo the clown
Speaker 4: at that ground round that.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's an expert in but you're you're getting into the
Speaker 1: weeds a little bit.
Speaker 4: Bingo the clown Stone And but you know what the
Speaker 4: restaurant like.
Speaker 1: Bingo may have may be at the retirement home at
Speaker 1: this point if he was working in ninety three, that
Speaker 1: a lot of wear and tear on clowns.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I'm not actually I'm retired, but I'm still going.
Speaker 4: But I mean, I'd like to see how Ad Johnson's
Speaker 4: come back and uh, a good hot dog place like
Speaker 4: Joe and Nemo's. Five hot dogs for a dollar?
Speaker 3: Oh there they have?
Speaker 4: How come no American food like hot dogs? There's nobody
Speaker 4: really doing that. You know, hamburger joints all over, but
Speaker 4: the hot dog is almost forgotten. A good hot dog,
Speaker 4: the breadish toasted, a good quality bread, good quality.
Speaker 1: So that was Howard Johnson's. Well, boys, that was Howard Johnson's.
Speaker 1: That that was their their I thought, best best menu
Speaker 1: it him. Now, isn't there Joe and Nemo's when they
Speaker 1: do the hot dog eating competition down in New York
Speaker 1: every every Fourth of July.
Speaker 2: Is that a Joe and Nemo's location.
Speaker 4: No, I mean they were in Boston.
Speaker 1: Were in Boston. But what is the place where they
Speaker 1: where they have where they gorged themselves with seventy five
Speaker 1: hot dogs?
Speaker 3: That's that's Nathan's Coney Island.
Speaker 2: Nathan's.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so they got hot dog places, Yeah, okay, Nathan's.
Speaker 2: On Coney Island.
Speaker 4: Nobody's taken up hot dogs in Boston area, you know,
Speaker 4: really specializing in a good hot dog.
Speaker 1: I think I think that a lot of people are
Speaker 1: kind of into healthier food john these days.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 4: Well, then me it could be a good quality with
Speaker 4: you know, less preserve preservers and less processed gonna have
Speaker 4: to be a bad.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's some well, well you got you got Solly's
Speaker 1: out of you got Solli's out on Castle Island. That's
Speaker 1: that's your hot dog, goat place, go to place.
Speaker 4: That's the only one I know of that's out of
Speaker 4: the out of the way kind of down the cell Boston.
Speaker 4: And by the way, Papa Gino's in Burlington, Massachusetts is
Speaker 4: still open.
Speaker 2: One of those.
Speaker 1: So so I I assume sure in that situation, that
Speaker 1: must be a franchise that has survived.
Speaker 2: Is that correct?
Speaker 6: They are?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's there's still franchisees that, yes, operate their locations
Speaker 3: and and there's still a franchise or there's still you know,
Speaker 3: the owner of the brand. But yeah, those are all
Speaker 3: owner operator.
Speaker 1: Those owner of So so those those are franchisees. How
Speaker 1: do they get all of the ingredients and the type
Speaker 1: of food that people come to expect from, whether it's
Speaker 1: a ground round or a Papa Gino's.
Speaker 2: Once the big corporate corporation disappears.
Speaker 3: Well, no, there's there's still It's not like it disappears,
Speaker 3: it just becomes a lot smaller, right, and so there's
Speaker 3: still a group out there that helps support those franchisees.
Speaker 3: They set up the supply contracts, they set up everything
Speaker 3: that you know. Okay, individual unit needs to have absolutely.
Speaker 1: Got you, got you? Okay, Johnny got another question? If
Speaker 1: not going to move here, go ahead.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: You think how Johnson could ever come back?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: The Orange don't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think. I think that one is a brand.
Speaker 4: People try to bring it back.
Speaker 3: Not that one. It's too far gone unfortunately.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I'd like to see that resurrected.
Speaker 6: That was a real icon.
Speaker 1: All right, John, appreciate you call. Thank you much, talk
Speaker 1: talk soon, Thanks very much. Next up, we're gonna go
Speaker 1: going to go to Linda in Worcester, Massachusetts. Into you
Speaker 1: next on Night Side with Sharif Mit.
Speaker 9: Yes, go right ahead, Yes, thank you for taking my
Speaker 9: Faltyan I would like to ask I would like to
Speaker 9: ask scherif why restaurant food has to be so salty.
Speaker 1: Be so salty salty?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, that's a great question.
Speaker 9: Uh, I mean people don't want a lot of salt.
Speaker 9: Can't take the salt out of the food. But if
Speaker 9: you want more salt, you can always shake it on.
Speaker 1: Well, they may be a preservative aspect of that, doesn't
Speaker 1: salt preserve food?
Speaker 2: I mean maybe some of the.
Speaker 9: Restaurants salt, and she preserved that much.
Speaker 1: Let's see what Sharif says Linda. We he have the complaints.
Speaker 1: Let's let's get an answer for you.
Speaker 3: It shouldn't be that salty. So my my advice to
Speaker 3: you is you're going to the wrong places. Uh. So
Speaker 3: there's lots of better restaurants that don't pile on the salt.
Speaker 3: I agree with you, there's no reason for it.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 3: And hopefully you'll you'll make it to a Friendly near
Speaker 3: you because we don't use a lot of salt at all.
Speaker 3: We allow the guests to put it out.
Speaker 9: I did used to like to go to go to Friendly.
Speaker 9: I think the way they went wrong was when they
Speaker 9: started making the menu too long, I started bringing in
Speaker 9: other foods.
Speaker 4: I agree.
Speaker 9: Yes, when they were just the sandwich and the ice
Speaker 9: cream and the burghers were delicious. That went very well.
Speaker 9: But the last time, the last time I went to Pepperginos,
Speaker 9: and I always liked Peppaginos. So the last time my
Speaker 9: sister I went we had chicken palm and a pizza
Speaker 9: slice of pizza and I said that was so salty
Speaker 9: my mouth actually burned, and I said, you know, I'm
Speaker 9: not coming.
Speaker 3: Back, all right, but there you go.
Speaker 9: I know that if you get things with a water cheese,
Speaker 9: cheese is unfortunately pretty solved.
Speaker 6: It is.
Speaker 7: Yes, I don't know, and I don't.
Speaker 9: Know what kind of restaurants I'm gonna have to go to, Linda, What.
Speaker 2: What restaurants do you go to today? You know?
Speaker 7: What?
Speaker 2: What? What change do you like? What change do you like?
Speaker 1: Trying to get a question named with Linda's kind of
Speaker 1: tough Linda, can you hear me?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 6: Not what?
Speaker 1: What? What restaurant chains do you like today? Are there
Speaker 1: any out there you like?
Speaker 9: I can't think. Well, Texas Roadhouse isn't too bad. If
Speaker 9: you get okay, you know the potato and mistake, it's
Speaker 9: not too bad.
Speaker 2: It okay, that's good?
Speaker 1: Well, all right, all right, Linda gonna let you run
Speaker 1: him up my brake, So I gotta let you go.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for calling, and we will always remember
Speaker 1: Linda is a salty call caller. Thanks Linda, good night,
Speaker 1: quick Break. Coming up, final segment with Sharif mid Yes,
Speaker 1: the CEO of Bricks Holdings. They are bringing Friendlies back.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you something. I'm delighted because
Speaker 1: that was one restaurant who was always clean. They had
Speaker 1: a great reputation. I'm trying to remember. They had a
Speaker 1: beautiful location on the turnpike where they were founded. Was
Speaker 1: that Long Meadow or what town was that in? Someone
Speaker 1: must remember they had these hedges that said Friendlies and
Speaker 1: whenever you rode out on the pike, it up by Springfield.
Speaker 2: You saw that.
Speaker 1: You happen to remember that, Sharif.
Speaker 3: Or no, well, Wilmingham, Wilbraham.
Speaker 1: Wham yea Wilbraham, thank you. Okay, that's the that is
Speaker 1: the Yeah, that's where they were founded. What did they
Speaker 1: top out at in terms of restaurants around the country.
Speaker 1: What was the biggest number they ever had?
Speaker 3: Oh boy, I think they were up to well over
Speaker 3: six hundred seven hundred restaurants.
Speaker 2: Man, And they were when you guys.
Speaker 3: West As Ohio.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And you told me today, I think that
Speaker 1: you're going to end up with getting about one hundred
Speaker 1: and ten locations up and running. So let's wish all
Speaker 1: the success where we got a bunch of phone callers
Speaker 1: who want to talk to you. So we got one
Speaker 1: segment and we'll let you go at midnight. I promised
Speaker 1: this has been a great segment. I really do appreciate
Speaker 1: the callers on some topics like this. We'll take a
Speaker 1: quick break, coming right back on Nightside. Doreen will lead
Speaker 1: us off. We got Michael, Jean and Jamie will get
Speaker 1: you all on. I promise stay right there back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w Z
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio. Back to the phones we go. My
Speaker 1: guest is Sharif Mitt. Yes, he's the CEO of Bricks Holdings.
Speaker 1: They are the company that's bringing Friendlies restaurants back to life.
Speaker 1: And there are other restaurants that are trying to work
Speaker 1: their way out of bankruptcy, and we mentioned some of
Speaker 1: them earlier. Feel free to ask any question about any
Speaker 1: restaurants you like. Let me go to Doreen. Doreen, welcome
Speaker 1: you next time Nightsager righthead, Doreen.
Speaker 8: Hi, Dan and Charif's guest. My favorite I have to say,
Speaker 8: and back in the day, I love Friendlies.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: You're talking to the guy that's going to be running
Speaker 1: Friendlies here, so you go right ahead, and.
Speaker 4: He better.
Speaker 8: Put back on the menu line and raspberry Ricky hy Rickys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, what about that cherif they coming back to
Speaker 1: or no.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm in Raspberry. I will get that to my chef's,
Speaker 3: my culinary team tomorrow.
Speaker 8: You know why because they were known to have the
Speaker 8: best ones, and I always went in friendlies for the
Speaker 8: great American sandwich and a raspberry Rookie and the best
Speaker 8: location MEDSFID, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: Very good. I love it, Thank you, thank you. It's
Speaker 3: great to hear.
Speaker 8: I also loved the ninety nine restaurant. It caters to
Speaker 8: everybody's needs.
Speaker 9: And plus the kids eat free when the Red Sox win.
Speaker 7: But tonight they lost.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no free free for ninety nine restaurant tonight,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Dorry, thank you much. Is always great
Speaker 1: to hear your voice. We'll talk soon, okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, let me go to Gene in every Gene.
Speaker 1: We gotta be quick because we're running out of time.
Speaker 10: Go right ahead, Gene, all right, thank you so well. No,
Speaker 10: there were two places. I can't find a deli any
Speaker 10: where anymore. Okay. I love the deli in the nice
Speaker 10: comb beef sandwich.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, deli, my guest is not a deli guy here,
Speaker 1: just so you know, go ahead.
Speaker 10: And the other thing was in Boston on Cambridge Street,
Speaker 10: near where I worked. There was a restaurant there and
Speaker 10: all they cooked was Turkey's fresh turkeys. You could get
Speaker 10: turkey sandwich, you could get turkey dinner with stuffing. That's
Speaker 10: just Boston.
Speaker 1: Is that Boston Chicken you were talking about?
Speaker 10: No, it was another one, but that one was pretty
Speaker 10: good at the time too.
Speaker 1: But what happened let me let me ask you, serif,
Speaker 1: is Boston Chicken still around her? Has that gone the way?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: That was That was a decent restaurant. I thought.
Speaker 1: I thought Boston Chicken. I was surprised that didn't didn't last.
Speaker 10: It was a good yeah, but I do miss that
Speaker 10: Turkey's restaurant. All they made was turkeys all day, Turkey sandwich, dinner.
Speaker 10: I'm great, vegetable whatever you want so great fresh.
Speaker 1: Well, Gene, you know what, maybe the symbol is going
Speaker 1: to call before the night is out and tell us
Speaker 1: the name of it and refresh your recollection.
Speaker 2: I gotta keep v tea. You got a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of you too.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Michael and Boston. Michael, you're next on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Go right ahead. You're on with my guest Jarif mityas
Speaker 1: the CEO of Bricks Holdings. They're bringing Friendlies out, the
Speaker 1: reviving Friendlies. We're going to see more friendly restaurants. Go ahead,
Speaker 1: good Michael.
Speaker 4: Good evening.
Speaker 5: I do have my favorite restaurants in Boston that are
Speaker 5: in walking distance, and I like them for various reasons.
Speaker 5: And I do remember Friendlies. I didn't eat there that much.
Speaker 5: I drank there was ice cream, sodas. Maybe I don't
Speaker 5: your menu, but I'm wondering with the new restaurants Friendlies,
Speaker 5: how will it be different? How do you expect them
Speaker 5: to continue? Is there a gimmick there? Are you going
Speaker 5: to have drastically lower prices? Are you going to have
Speaker 5: healthy health foods? Are you going to have what? What
Speaker 5: will the menu be at the new Friendlies?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. So I think what we're
Speaker 3: what we're doing right now in our Friendlies restaurants is
Speaker 3: it's a nod to the past. Right. So you heard
Speaker 3: kind of the Great American sandwich that's that's on the
Speaker 3: tuna roll that people loved, the you know, the the
Speaker 3: you know the the the fribbles, right, where are the shakes?
Speaker 3: The cone head Sundays. So those items that people loved
Speaker 3: from the past, we have to retain, but we also
Speaker 3: then add new. So to your point, we've added some
Speaker 3: salads because some folks want to eat healthier. We've added
Speaker 3: some you know, better entrees, right because people want to
Speaker 3: have a little bit nicer meal. But still add an
Speaker 3: affordable price. To your point, right, we're still got to
Speaker 3: be able to be a family of four less than
Speaker 3: one hundred dollars, right, and so you've got to be
Speaker 3: able to they'll beat the people and meet the families
Speaker 3: and make it a great place to bring your kids.
Speaker 3: And so a nod to the past, with some additions
Speaker 3: to the new, keeping it affordable, but always ensuring we
Speaker 3: know who we are and where were Who we are
Speaker 3: is a great family restaurant that serves amazing ice cream,
Speaker 3: great burgers and sandwiches, and even our senior citizens discount
Speaker 3: is back.
Speaker 1: So uniforms on the on the wait staff got to
Speaker 1: be the same.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's still a nod to the So there's
Speaker 3: still missal.
Speaker 1: Right exactly, Michael, great, great questions, Michael, thank you.
Speaker 2: I got to keep rolling here.
Speaker 4: Okay, thank you, very good luck, thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 1: Let me go to Jamie and Worcester. Jamie gonna get
Speaker 1: you and one more in. Go ahead, Jamie, you're always shy,
Speaker 1: Go right ahead.
Speaker 11: Okay, I'll be very saft. The one who Carl said
Speaker 11: there is no good hot dog places anymore. I don't
Speaker 11: know if you knows in the list of is Coney
Speaker 11: Island hot and if you go where into Spencer is
Speaker 11: hut on in Those are two places I've been around
Speaker 11: for a long time.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm hoping that John from Boston has made a
Speaker 1: note of that.
Speaker 2: That's that we have.
Speaker 1: We have Sully's out there on Castle Island, which is
Speaker 1: known for its hot dogs, no doubt. That's one of
Speaker 1: the first signs of spring when they open.
Speaker 11: Up right exactly and the other thing is out there.
Speaker 11: The friendly is gonna come back for it all only
Speaker 11: Western disappeared.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Unfortunately that store closed before we had a chance
Speaker 3: to resurrect it. So we're we're looking at a lot
Speaker 3: of news, a lot of more, lot more sites in
Speaker 3: New England. We obviously know Massachusetts and the folks in
Speaker 3: Massachusetts loved friendlies. A lot of them had to go
Speaker 3: away during the bankruptcy. We're we're looking to bring back
Speaker 3: a lot more Friendlies into Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: All right, it's good news.
Speaker 1: Good thanks, Jamie, appreciated last one of the night. Tim
Speaker 1: got about thirty seconds for you. What can you do
Speaker 1: with it, buddy?
Speaker 7: My favorite family you ever was a fishing a jig sandwich.
Speaker 7: It was a fish sandwich, French fries.
Speaker 3: And coal flaw. And you got it on the what's
Speaker 3: it's on the menu. It's on the menu.
Speaker 4: I can't wait. Do I miss that?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 4: Well and.
Speaker 3: Perfect well you got you.
Speaker 1: Got one in Pboty right now, we're told Tim, so
Speaker 1: it fairly close.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, go to Peabty the fishing with jigs
Speaker 3: on the menu.
Speaker 4: I can't wait.
Speaker 2: You got it.
Speaker 1: You got it, Jim. We'll see you Sunday. We'll see
Speaker 1: you Sunday at the brunch. Thanks Tim, talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed this very much. Sure if I want to
Speaker 1: thank you for the time you spent tonight, and I
Speaker 1: want to thank you for bringing back Friendlies website. Folks
Speaker 1: can kind of keep track of the process here real quickly.
Speaker 2: I got about ten seconds left.
Speaker 3: Yeah, at Friendlies Restaurants dot Com.
Speaker 4: Just that's perfect.
Speaker 3: Come and join us.
Speaker 1: Sure if I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: We'll talk again. Okay, we'll keep in touch.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Rob Brooks.
Speaker 1: Great job, Marita, great job, good calls, good thanks to
Speaker 1: the listeners. All dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven.
Speaker 1: That's my Pelle, Charlie Rays, who passed fifteen years ago
Speaker 1: in February. That's why your pets are who have passed.
Speaker 1: They loved you and you love them. I do believe
Speaker 1: you'll see them again. We'll see you again tomorrow night.
Speaker 1: I'll see you tomorrow night at eight Marina's here at
Speaker 1: four point thirty Tomorrow afternoon, I will be on nightside
Speaker 1: on Facebook. Nice out with Dan Ray in about a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes.
Speaker 2: See you there,