<P> Newport Creamery is a chain of restaurants in Southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island . 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 . </P> <P> Newport Creamery began with Samuel Rector's Newport, Rhode Island 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 . </P> <P> 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 franchisee, purchased the company for only $1.55 million . </P>

Which city had the first newport creamery restaurant