The latest popular restaurant chain to be devastatingly impacted by the COVID pandemic is the 85-year-old fast casual dining eatery, Friendly's; restaurant officials filed for Chapter 11 during the pandemic and announced Sunday that it would "sell substantially all of its assets" to a private hedge fund company that owns other quick-service restaurants, CNN reports.

The good news is that nearly all of Friendly's 130 locations, which are predominantly on the US east coast, will remain open and the deal will preserve thousands of jobs.

Quite naturally, the company cited the coronavirus health crisis as the reason for its financial troubles. 

"Unfortunately, like many restaurant businesses, our progress was suddenly interrupted by the catastrophic impact of Covid-19, which caused a decline in revenue as dine-in operations ceased for months and re-opened with limited capacity," said CEO George Michel.

He added that the deal with help it rebound as a "stronger business, with the leadership and resources needed to continue to invest in the business and serve loyal patrons."

Friendly's said it has sufficient cash on hand to continue its operations and pay employees, CNN reports, and a court hearing is scheduled for next month to approve the transaction.

It previously filed for bankruptcy in 2011 when it had more than 400 restaurants.

According to CNN, Friendly's is only the latest in a series of dining chains that have announced bankruptcy, including Ruby Tuesday's, Sizzler USA, California Pizza Kitchen, Chuck E. Cheese and NPC International.