Friendly Toast Sale Pending

A local firm has an agreement in place to buy the Friendly Toast, one of downtown Portsmouth's most iconic restaurants.

Eric Goodwin, president of Concord-based Goodwin Hospitality and Associates, and Scott Pulver, a Massachusetts real estate broker, teamed up to purchase the restaurant through their Toasted Brothers LLC company.


"Our intent is to retain and keep all of the things that make the Friendly Toast a very recognizable name," Goodwin said.

The Friendly Toast also has a location in Cambridge, Mass., which was included in the pending sale. Goodwin said the deal will likely be finalized in the next few weeks.

Goodwin said they are not planning to make any staff changes at either of the two restaurants. He said they have hired Marcus Thompson to serve as director of operations after he formerly headed up the Barking Crab restaurant in Boston.

Goodwin said they have agreed to carry out some key structural improvements and upgrades sought by the City of Portsmouth's Health Department.

The Friendly Toast is owned by Melissa and Robert Jasper. Attempts to reach them Tuesday were unsuccessful. 

In 2011, the Jaspers first announced they had put their Congress Street restaurant and Cambridge, Mass., restaurant up for sale for $1.9 million.

The Bean Group in Portsmouth listed both restaurants and described the Friendly Toast as "a very profitable and dynamic concept that does in excess of $5,000,000" at both locations.