On Monday, Vince DeJoy III announced he will be partnering with Marcy Parenti, former Friendly’s general manager, to reopen the former restaurant as Jimmy’s Family Restaurant, located at 10 S. Main St.

DeJoy said he was just as shocked as many city residents when the former Friendly’s restaurant closed April 8. He said as the development director for the city he contacted the building’s owner Amfil, a real estate investment group out of New York City. He added that he met with Amfil officials at Tim Horton’s across the street from the restaurant on Good Friday about potential developers who would want to reopen the restaurant.

However, DeJoy said Amfil officials told him there had been little interest to reopen another franchise restaurant at the location.

So around Memorial Day weekend, DeJoy said he reached out to Parenti to see if she thought an independent restaurant would be successful in the former Friendly’s location. When Parenti said “yes” because of the great staff and regular customers, DeJoy went to work creating a business plan to reopen the restaurant.

From left, Vince DeJoy Jr., Marcy Parenti and Vince DeJoy III outside of the former Friendly’s restaurant, which will be reopened as Jimmy’s Family Restaurant. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

DeJoy said the name of the restaurant came from his sister, who had suggested “Jimmytown,” but he thought that was too long and shortened it to Jimmy’s Family Restaurant. He said his two grandfathers, who were both named Vincent, also went by Jimmy.

“It just seemed to work. It just seemed right,” he said.

With Parenti running the new restaurant, DeJoy said he will be handling the finance side of the operation. He said it will cost around $150,000 to reopen the restaurant. He applied and received a $55,000 Chautauqua Revolving Loan Fund from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency. He added the rest of the financing to open the restaurant will come from personal funds.

DeJoy said he will not be applying or accepting any loans or grants from the city of Jamestown; h­e will be leasing the building from Amfil.

DeJoy said his father, Vince DeJoy Jr., will also be involved in the restaurant. He said part of his personal financing he is providing came from an inheritance from his late Uncle Dominic Lopriore, who also helped DeJoy III when he opened Stage Left in 1991. Today, Stage Left is known as Forte, which is located at 114 E. Third St., Jamestown.

The name of the corporation that will be leasing the restaurant is JtownDJF, with the DJF standing for DeJoy family.

DeJoy said they will be working on an aggressive schedule to try and reopen the restaurant before the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, which is held annually the first week of August. He said there are still some items in the restaurant like booths, but they will need to buy new fryers, griddles, tables, plates and silverware.

Parenti said a lot of people who used to work at the Friendly’s have expressed an interest in returning once Jimmy’s is opened. She said the hours and the menu will be similar to before. She said the customers were like family because she knew everybody’s first name and what they wanted to eat.

“We’re going to go with what works here,” she said. “We offer great food, at great prices and a great atmosphere.”

The closure of Friendly’s April 8 was met with surprise and confusion by customers and city officials. A sign taped to the door stated, “We apologize for disappointing you on this visit, but this location is now closed for business. We regret that we do not have another Friendly’s restaurant near you, but we hope that you will visit one of our other locations when traveling.”