Friends and Company Restaurant first opened its doors in October of 1980 under the ownership of Mac Walker and Richard Evarts. Located on Route 1 between the Madison and Guilford border, and alongside the picturesque East River, the restaurant has been serving up a varied menu using local ingredients for the past twenty-eight years. With an emphasis on freshly prepared, health conscious foods, Friends and Company has become locally famous for its daily baked breads, hearty soups, home-made desserts, colorful specials, and the boxes of seeds, nuts and raisins that accompany it salads.
When Mac and Richard first gave the restaurant its name, they envisioned it being a place where friends and their company could gather together for a cold drink at the end of a summer day spent on the shoreline or for a warm dinner by the cozy fireplace on a snowy day in winter. Thirty years later those very same ideas of good food and friendly service are kept very much alive by the restaurant’s current owners and long-time employees, Gregory Benson and Brian Gondek.