Ernie Garcia

elgarcia@lohud.com

The company that owns most of the region's Friendly's restaurants in Rockland and Westchester counties suddenly closed several of them this week.

Friendly's restaurants in Mount Kisco, Yonkers and Yorktown were closed Friday morning when a reporter from lohud.com visited them.

A clerk in a neighboring store next to the Friendly's at 477 Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers said the restaurant suddenly closed on Monday around noon and employees were told to leave.

The Friendly's in Mount Kisco and Yorktown closed suddenly on Tuesday, according to a lohud.com reader.

Friendly's restaurants in Hartsdale and Suffern did not answer their phones on Friday; the only local Friendly's restaurant that answered its phone on Friday is in Carmel.

Friendly's referred questions about the closures to J & B Restaurant Partners of NY in Bohemia, the franchisor that operates Friendly's in Rockland and Westchester counties.

On Thursday Dawn Petite of J & B declined to comment on the closures.

J & B closed other Friendly's in recent weeks, including the one in Darien, Conn. and another in Tenafly, N.J.

J & B filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011 and that case is ongoing as the company reorganizes its finances.

Twitter: @Ernie_G_journo