Applebee's

Applebee's Restaurants LLC.
 	
An Applebee's in Griffin, Georgia	An Applebee's in Griffin, Georgia
Trade name 	Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar
Type 	Subsidiary
Industry 	Restaurants
Genre 	Casual dining
Founded 	October 25, 1980; 41 years ago
Decatur, Georgia, U.S.
Founders 	Bill Palmer
T. J. Palmer
Headquarters 	Glendale, California, U.S.
Number of locations 	1,787 (December 31, 2019)[1]
Areas served 	United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates,Panama
Key people 	John Cywinski (President)[2] Stephen Bulgarelli
(Chief Culinary Officer)[3]
Products 	American cuisine
(burgers • chicken • pasta • ribs • salads • seafood • soup • steak • appetizers • sandwiches • wraps • kids menu)
Number of employees 	28,000 (2013)[4]
Parent 	Dine Brands Global
(2007–present)
Website 	www.applebees.com
Applebee's Restaurants LLC. is an American company that develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar restaurant chain. The Applebee's concept focuses on casual dining, with mainstream American dishes such as salads, chicken, pasta, burgers, and "riblets" (which is considered Applebee's signature dish). All Applebee's restaurants feature a bar area and serve alcoholic beverages.
Contents
External linksHistory[edit]
1980–2006: Founding and going public[edit]
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.[5] They also considered "Cinnamon's" and "Pepper's" before arriving at Applebee's.[6] They opened their first location in Decatur, Georgia, at the time named T.J. Applebee's Rx for Edibles & Elixirs. They opened a second location outside of Atlanta, Georgia a few years later, and sold the company to W. R. Grace and Company in 1983.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] In 1989, Applebee's opened their 100th restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee.[10]
In the 1990s Applebee's became one of the largest sit-down restaurant chains in the United States,[11] and it began trading publicly in November 1991.[12] In 1998, Applebee's opened its 1000th restaurant.
2007–present: Acquisition by IHOP[edit]
Former headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas (now called Restaurant Support Center)
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.[13]
On November 29, 2007, IHOP (now DineEquity) announced that it had completed a $2 billion purchase of the Applebee's chain.[13][14] After the acquisition, IHOP Corp. changed its name to DineEquity, Inc.[15] With their merger in November 2007, Applebee's and IHOP combined to make the largest full-service restaurant company in the world, with more than 3,250 locations.[14][16]
On September 3, 2015, it was announced that their parent company, DineEquity, would be consolidating its headquarters for Applebee's and IHOP to DineEquity's Glendale, California, location.[17]
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.[18][19] 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.[1]
Advertising[edit]
	This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2016)
As part of the company's marketing campaign and slogan, Wanda Sykes was hired to voice the chain's new mascot, the Applebee's Apple.[20] 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.[citation needed] 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, featuring the slogan "See you tomorrow."[21]
In late September 2017 Applebee's brought back its most famous slogan from the early-to-mid 2000s, "Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood." They also engaged in an alcohol–based advertising campaign to attract new customers by having a "drink of the month" at a reduced price.[22] In 2019, Applebee's advertising fees accounted for 165.5 million U.S. dollars.
In October 2017 Applebee's added the 'Dollarita' to their menu, which Steve Joyce, CEO of parent company Dine Brands, has claimed to be a major change for Applebee's. "Dollarita turned everything around," he said. "It was a 13-point swing between September and October in Applebee's performance." After introducing the dollar drink deal Applebee's has had four consecutive quarters of growth after struggling to grow sales.[23] Unfortunately, the global pandemic has now pulled the Dollarita from many Applebee’s menus, and its reappearance is often brief and seasonal, if it occurs at all. However, it has been replaced by select $5 cocktails that are updated each month, such as the “Smoocho Mucho Sips” (February 2022[24]) and the “Sleigh Bell Sips” (November 2021[25]).
Controversies[edit]
Side-work compensation[edit]
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.[26][27]
In September 2012, a judge in Illinois ruled in favor of the Applebee's employees and will evaluate damages at a later date.[28]
Contents 	Contents 	Contents 	Contents 	Contents
 	 	 	 	
1980–1982	1982–1983	1983–1985	1984–1985 	1985
 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	Returns
1985–2007	2007–2014	2014–2017	2017–present	2027–Upcoming
T.J. Applebee's Rx for Edibles & Elixirs
1980–1982
Applebee's first opened in 1980 as T.J. Applebee's Rx for Edibles and Elixirs.
T.J. Applebee's Edibles & Elixirs
1982–1983
T.J. Applebee's
1983–1985
1984–1985
1985
Applebee's
1985–2007
2027-Upcoming
Logo with slogan
Wordmark with slogan and the apple as the apostrophe
	SVG
NEEDED
		
TYPOGRAPHY:	Eckmann-Schrift (modified)
LAUNCHED:	Unknown
2007–2014
2014–2017
In 2014, Applebee's modified its logo by making the leaf red, removing the red outline of the apple, and recoloring the text "Applebee's" from green to black.
Alternate version of the logo with the text "Grill & Bar" added underneath the Applebee's logo.
2017–present
Applebee's in 2017 released a new logo with the apple and leaf being recolored, the wordmark is slightly modified, and the "Grill and Bar" tagline became "Grill + Bar" with a new font.
In the same year they brought back their slogan "Eatin' Good In The Neighborhood".
Category:Earth
Category:Built 1980
Category:Restaurant