Although the company had begun divesting parlours in late 1985, this process moved too slowly to stop the cash flow hemorrhage. The least-profitable stores were also the most difficult to unload. In early 1985, Farrell's had all but stopped paying vendors for any product that was being delivered. In March, 1985, three years after the purchase of Farrell’s, the investors turned the managerial and financial reigns of the company back over to Marriott. The San Francisco office was shut down and all corporate functions were relocated back to Washington DC.

By this time, the company was a mere shell of what it had been previously. 59 company-owned stores remained, and both sales and guest counts were at all-time lows. While Ken Weber retained the title of President of Farrell's, Inc. after this transition, Marriott veterans Steve Leipsner and Don Rodis took over functional oversight of the company. Mr. Leipsner had been overseeing Marriott's travel plaza restaurants, while Mr. Rodis had previous experience with Farrell's when it was part of Marriott. As Vice President of Farrell's, Don Rodis would handle the day-to-day operations.

Marriott's first task was addressing all the unpaid bills left behind from the San Francisco office. Next, they renegotiated all the supply contracts to incorporate Marriott's considerable purchasing power, which garnered some good price discounts. Marriott reinstated the newsprint menus that had been absent for over two years. They changed from fresh hamburgers to frozen (although, to be fair, the frozen burgers they specified this time were much better than the product they used in the late 1970's). They also authorized some cosmetic changes to the parlours on the west coast. These stores had not been remodeled or changed in their 15+ years of existence, and some of the stores looked run-down from age and use.

The first parlour to receive a facelift was the Daly City store. The interior was repainted in earthtones, with patterned booth cushions and new tabletops installed, while the exterior was repainted with lighter colors (white and peach, I was once told). The whole makeover was done for around $85,000.

While the new look was nice and not as extreme as the Sacramento remodels, it still did not boost sales enough to warrant the investment. Marriott still wanted to do something with the other stores, though. With an eye on keeping costs to around $25,000 per store, many of the remaining parlours got a new exterior and interior color treatment; this included replacing the traditional red-flocked wallpaper with either a balloon-pattern or color-striped array (something you might find in a baby's nursery). The mahogany wood paneling and trim throughout the store was painted bright white. The exterior color scheme was bright white, accented with powder pink and baby blue. The traditional skimmer hat/gay 90’s uniform was replaced with a unisex uniform of black slacks, striped polo shirts, visors and utility aprons. The old-time background music was tossed, replaced with jukeboxes filled with golden oldies.  This had no effect whatsoever on sales.

So why did Marriott pay for the facelift? Mainly to neutralize the distinctive Farrell's appearance, to make the restaurants easier to sell. It's the same concept as repainting the house before putting it on the market - to make it more saleable. It had nothing to do with boosting sales.

From this point on, the primary focus of the company was liquidating its assets as quickly as possible. Some of the parlours were sold to the managers at bargain-basement prices; the only stipulation of the sale was that the parlour's name had to be changed. Over the next years Farrell's became Barrell's, Teddy Bear's, Toon's, Englands, Dixieland, and The Original Portland Ice Cream Parlour.  By the mid 1990’s, all company-owned parlours had been closed or sold.