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Applebee's Restaurants LLC. is an American company that develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar
restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
. The Applebee's concept focuses on
casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...
, with mainstream American dishes such as salads, chicken, pasta, burgers, and "
riblets Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then ...
" (Applebee's signature dish).


History


1980–2006: Founding and going public

The Applebee's chain was founded by Bill and T. J. Palmer in 1980. Their vision was "to create a restaurant that had a neighborhood pub feel to it and could offer friendly service along with quality fare at a lower price than most of their competition." The name “Appleby” was their first choice for this concept, but they found that it had already been registered. They also considered "Cinnamon's" and "Pepper's" before arriving at Applebee's. They opened their first location in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, at the time named T.J. Applebee's Rx for Edibles & Elixirs. They opened a second location outside of
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
a few years later, and sold the company to
W. R. Grace and Company W. R. Grace and Co. is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes catalysts and related products and technologies ...
in 1983. As part of the transaction, Bill Palmer was named president of the Applebee's Division, an indirect subsidiary of W. R. Grace and Company. In that capacity, Palmer guided the operation from its entrepreneurial beginnings to a full-fledged franchise system. He became an Applebee's franchisee in 1985. Bill Palmer died in 2020. In 1986, the name of the concept was changed to Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar. In 1988, Applebee's International, Inc., became the restaurant chain's franchiser when Kansas City franchisees Abe Gustin and John Hamra purchased the rights to the Applebee's concept from W. R. Grace. In 1989, Applebee's opened their 100th restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. In the 1990s Applebee's became one of the largest sit-down restaurant chains in the United States, and it began trading publicly in November 1991. In 1998, Applebee's opened its 1000th restaurant.


2007–present: Acquisition by IHOP

On July 16, 2007, IHOP Corp. announced that it agreed to buy Applebee's International for about $2.1 billion. Applebee's shareholders would receive $25.50 in cash per share, representing a 4.6% premium to the closing price on July 13, 2007. The acquisition was completed on November 29, 2007, after which IHOP Corp. was renamed
DineEquity Dine Brands Global Inc. is a publicly traded food and beverage company based in Glendale, California. Founded in 1958 as IHOP, it operates franchised and corporate owned full-service restaurants including two restaurant concepts, Applebee's Ne ...
. The combined company became the largest full-service restaurant company in the world, with more than 3,250 locations. A major goal for the new ownership was to revitalize the chain, as well as shift towards a franchise model for the majority of its locations. In 2013, the chain faced an uproar on the Internet after firing a waitress who posted a picture of a customer's receipt that had a rude note written on it objecting to a required gratuity, and then poorly handling their response to the incident. On August 11, 2017, DineEquity announced that Applebee's would close between 105 and 135 locations by the end of the year. Same-store sales decreased 7% in the previous quarter. In-late 2017, Applebee's began to place an increased focus on promotions involving low-cost
cocktails A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...
, including a $1
margarita A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). T ...
promotion dubbed the "Dollarita" in October, and $1
Long Island iced tea A Long Island iced tea or Long Island ice tea is a type of cocktail typically made with vodka, tequila, light rum, triple sec, gin, and a splash of cola, which gives the drink the same amber hue as iced tea. The drink has a much higher alcohol ...
(promoted as "L.I.T.s") in December. The drinks would serve as a
loss leader A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular articl ...
, with customers subsequently upsold towards higher-priced food products. Despite hesitation by some franchisees to participate, the promotions were associated with a major increase in traffic at some locations, and prompted the chain to offer similar promotions later on. Dine Brands' new CEO Steve Joyce credited the promotions with having helped influence a major financial turnaround at the company, noting that almost all customers who ordered one also ordered food, and that some customers also moved towards the other cocktails on its menu. As of December 31, 2019, there were 1,787 restaurants operating system-wide in the United States and 15 other countries, including 69 that are company owned and 1,718 that are franchised. United States locations have steadily declined in recent years and as of December 31, 2021, there were 1,578 locations.


Advertising

As part of the company's marketing campaign and slogan,
Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on '' The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertai ...
was hired in 2007 to voice the chain's new mascot, the Applebee's Apple. The character appears in commercials touting Applebee's various specials and stating the new slogan "Together is good" or saying "Get it together, baby!" as the slogan appears at the bottom right of the screen. A new campaign started on February 25, 2008, without Sykes' character (the spokesapple), with the slogan "It's a whole new neighborhood." The commercials used both the original and new logos. In 2009 Applebee's changed its slogan again to "There's no place like the neighborhood." From 2012 to 2016 Applebee's aired an advertising campaign focusing on fresh ingredients and new dishes, narrated by
Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 20 ...
, featuring the slogan "See you tomorrow." In 2012, Applebee's partnered with the country group
Zac Brown Band Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulel ...
on a Veteran's Day-themed "Thank You Movement" campaign to honor members of the U.S. military. The band's song "
Chicken Fried "Chicken Fried" is a song by American country music group Zac Brown Band, which frontman Zac Brown co-wrote with Wyatt Durrette. The song was first recorded in 2003 for the 2005 album ''Home Grown''. A second version was then released in 2006 by ...
" has also been featured in a Applebee's commercial; in February 2022, Applebee's pulled its advertising from
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
after an incident where an inappropriately timed split-screen commercial break featured live footage of the
2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
shown alongside the ad. In late September 2017 Applebee's brought back its most famous slogan from the early-to-mid 2000s, "Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood." In 2019, Applebee's advertising fees accounted for 165.5 million U.S. dollars. In 2021, after having removed it due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Applebee's restored its Oreo Cookie Shake to its menu. The chain and beverage had been mentioned in
Walker Hayes Charles Edgar Walker Hayes (born December 27, 1979) is an American country-pop singer and songwriter. He has released three studio albums: ''Reason to Rhyme'' in 2011 on Capitol Records Nashville, and '' Boom'' and '' Country Stuff the Album'' i ...
' song "
Fancy Like "Fancy Like" is a song recorded by American country music singer Walker Hayes. It was released on August 2, 2021, from his fifth EP '' Country Stuff'' via Monument Records Nashville. Hayes co-wrote the song with Cameron Bartolini, Josh Jenkins, an ...
", which was subsequently featured in a new Applebee's commercial as well.


Controversies


Side-work compensation

Since 2006, Applebee's and its servers have been engaged in a lawsuit over hourly wages. The servers, who received a federal minimum wage of $2.13 per hour as tipped employees, allege that the company requires them to spend 20% of their time doing non-serving labor, for which they should be paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The case has gone through several stages, including a judicially mandated binding arbitration session. In September 2012, a judge in Illinois ruled in favor of the Applebee's employees and will evaluate damages at a later date.


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1980 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Companies based in Glendale, California Multinational restaurant chains Restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1980 1991 initial public offerings 2007 mergers and acquisitions Restaurant franchises