Newport Creamery is a chain of restaurants in

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

and southern

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Since its first restaurant opened in 1940, it has been primarily known for ice cream and, later, the "Awful Awful" milkshake. The company is based in

Middletown, Rhode Island Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,075 at the 2020 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown." History Issue ...

History

Newport Creamery began with Samuel Rector's

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

dairy business in 1928. Rector began as a wholesaler and started home delivery in 1932. In 1940, Rector and his son opened their first restaurant in nearby Middletown, where the company is still headquartered. For its first 13 years, the restaurant sold only ice cream, adding other food to the menu in 1953. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was franchised, eventually expanding to 33 restaurants. In the late 1990s, the company ran into financial trouble, losing money, deferring maintenance, and closing 12 of its locations. In 1999 the Rector family sold the chain to Florida businessman, Robert Swain, for $7.6 million. Swain tried to expand the business's geographic coverage into Massachusetts and Connecticut. The expansion was unsuccessful, and was followed by contraction. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2000. In 2001, Jan Companies, a local

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

franchisee, purchased the company for only $1.55 million. the company has 10 locations; eight are located in Rhode Island, and two are in

southeastern Massachusetts Southeastern Massachusetts is a region of Massachusetts located south of Boston and east of Rhode Island. It is commonly used to describe areas with cultural ties to both Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, and includes the cities of New Bedford ...

Awful Awful

The chain is known for Awful Awful

milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may ...

s, made from proprietary ice milk and blended syrups that come in a variety of different flavors. The drink started at the New Jersey–based chain, Bond's, in the 1940s. The name comes from a Bond's customer who called it "awful big and awful good". In 1948, Bond's licensed it to Newport Creamery and then to Massachusetts-based

Friendly's Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the East Coast of the United States. The first location, selling ice cream cones, opened in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was founded by brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 ...

. The terms of the license mandated the two New England businesses not sell it in New Jersey, leading the expanding Friendly's chain to rebrand it as a "Fribble", and later changing its formula to be more like a traditional milkshake with ice cream instead of ice milk. When Bond's went out of business in the 1970s, Newport Creamery purchased the trademark and continues to serve the original recipe.

Media

Newport Creamery was featured on a 2019 episode of the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by and spin-off of Food Network. Both are owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media ...

's ''

Man v. Food ''Man v. Food'' is an American food reality television series. It premiered on December 3, 2008 on the Travel Channel. The program was originally hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big foo ...

'' Where host Casey Webb visited several restaurants in the providence area, including The Newport Creamery and PVDonuts. During the episode Webb successfully finished three Awful Awful milkshakes in one sitting.

Locations

Massachusetts Locations *

Fall River, MA Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state, and the second-largest municipality in the county behi ...

- 1670 President Ave * Seekonk, MA- 701 Fall River Ave Rhode Island Locations *

Barrington, RI Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States, approximately southeast of Providence. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 17,153. Barrington was founded by Congregationalist sepa ...

- 296 County Road *

Coventry, RI Coventry is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island. The population was 35,688 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census and is part of the . Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of . of it is land ...

- 781 Tiogue Avenue *

Cranston, RI Cranston, formerly known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second-largest city in the state. The center of p ...

- 100 Hillside Rd * Greenville, RI- 568 Putnam Pike * Middletown, RI- 208 West Main Road * North Kingstown, RI- 7679 Post Road *

Providence, RI Providence () is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, it is one of the oldest cities in New England, founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and ...

- 673 Smith Street *

Warwick, RI Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, s ...

- 1256 Warwick Avenue

References

External links

Newport Creamery

The Jan Companies
{{Restaurants in Rhode Island Companies based in Rhode Island Ice cream parlors in the United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurant franchises Restaurants established in 1940 Restaurants in Massachusetts Restaurants in Rhode Island Rhode Island culture 1940 establishments in Rhode Island