Applebee's
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
company which develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant chain. As of September 2011, there were 2,010 restaurants operating system-wide in the United States, one U.S. territory and 14 other countries. The company is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
after moving from Lenexa, Kansas
Lenexa, Kansas
Lenexa is a city in the central part of Johnson County, located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,190. As a satellite city of Kansas City, Kansas, Lenexa is included in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
in September 2011.
The Applebee's concept focuses on casual dining with mainstream American dishes such as salads, shrimp, chicken, pasta, and "riblets
Riblets
A riblet is an alternative to ribs. The actual riblet is the portion of a loin back rib that is cut off at the top to give the rib a more uniform look. Loin back ribs don't always have this removed. When not removed they have a rounded look to them and are often referred to as baby back ribs...
" (which is considered Applebee's signature dish). All Applebee's restaurants feature a bar area and serve alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
s (except where prohibited by law).
In November 2007, IHOP announced that it had completed a $1.9 billion purchase of the Applebee's chain.
History
The Applebee's chain was started by Bill and T. J. Palmer who opened their first restaurant, T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Edibles & Elixirs, in Decatur, GeorgiaDecatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
, on January 1, 1980. After opening their second restaurant the pair sold their company to W. R. Grace and Company
W. R. Grace and Company
W. R. Grace and Company is a Columbia, Maryland, United States based chemical conglomerate.The company has two main divisions, Davison Chemicals and Performance Chemicals. The Davison unit makes chemical catalysts, refining catalysts, and silica-based products that let other companies make...
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
W. R. Grace and Company
W. R. Grace and Company is a Columbia, Maryland, United States based chemical conglomerate.The company has two main divisions, Davison Chemicals and Performance Chemicals. The Davison unit makes chemical catalysts, refining catalysts, and silica-based products that let other companies make...
. 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 and today owns more than three dozen Applebee's restaurants.
In 1986, the name of the concept was changed to Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar to reflect the Palmers' original concept of a place people could call their own.
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.
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. After the acquisition, IHOP Corp. changed its name to DineEquity
DineEquity
DineEquity is a United States company that both franchises and operates restaurants. Headquartered in Glendale, California, the company was founded originally as IHOP and changed its corporate identity after it acquired Applebee's. On July 16, 2007, IHOP Corp. announced its intent to acquire the...
, Inc. DineEquity, which franchises nearly all of its restaurants, said it hoped to employ that strategy with Applebee's. “We believe we have an opportunity to re-energize the brand and get franchisees, employees and guests all sort of thinking about the brand in a different way,” Julia Stewart, DineEquity's chairman and chief executive officer, said. “Obviously, we have opportunities to find points of differentiation – things that no one has but Applebee’s – and I think the future is very bright.”
As part of the company's new marketing campaign and slogan, Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes is an American writer, stand-up comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America...
was hired 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 its slogan, "It's a whole new neighborhood." The commercials used both the company's original and new logos.
In 2005, a five-year-old dining with his mother at a New York City Applebee's was served a Long Island Iced Tea
Long Island Iced Tea
A Long Island Iced Tea is a highball made with, among other ingredients, vodka, gin, tequila, and rum. A popular version mixes equal parts vodka, gin, tequila, rum, and triple sec with 1½ parts sour mix and a splash of cola. Most variants use equal parts of the main liquors but include a smaller...
, instead of apple juice, in a child's sippy cup
Sippy cup
The sippy cup is a spill-proof drinking cup designed for toddlers. It works by way of surface tension that prevents liquid from being spilled even when the cup is upended. The critical element is the sippy top being firmly in place on top of the cup, preventing spills.The sippy cup was invented by...
. In June 2007, a similar incident occurred at an Applebee's in Antioch, California
Antioch, California
Antioch is a city in Contra Costa County, California. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, it is a suburb of San Francisco and Oakland. The city's population was 102,372 at the U.S...
, where a two-year-old was served a margarita
Margarita
The margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila mixed with orange-flavoured liqueur and lime or lemon juice, often served with salt on the glass rim. It is the most common tequila-based cocktail in the United States...
instead of apple juice. At that time, it was determined that the two beverages were stored in identical bottles. In April 2011, another toddler, a fifteen-month-old boy in Madison Heights, Michigan, was taken to the hospital after being served a margarita instead of apple juice.
Company headquarters
Applebee’s Kansas City-area headquarters was at 3929 Broadway in Kansas City, Missouri in 1988. In 1993 it moved to Overland Park, KansasOverland Park, Kansas
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 149,080 people, 59,703 households, and 39,702 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,627.0 people per square mile . There were 62,586 housing units at an average density of 1,102.9 per square mile...
. In January 2008 it moved to neighboring Lenexa, Kansas
Lenexa, Kansas
Lenexa is a city in the central part of Johnson County, located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,190. As a satellite city of Kansas City, Kansas, Lenexa is included in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
per an agreement made in 2005 before it was taken over by IHOP (now DineEquity) to a new 175000 square feet (16,258 m²) building designed by BNIM
BNIM
BNIM is an architecture and design firm founded in 1970 in Kansas City, Missouri. With offices in Kansas City, Houston, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Los Angeles, California, and San Diego, California, the firm has nearly 100 design professionals and support staff.BNIM has completed many significant...
(lured by a 90 percent property tax reduction offer). However DineEquity has since been downsizing the headquarters presence as it has begun a strategy of converting its company-owned restaurants to franchises with a goal of having 98 percent of its restaurants franchised by 2013. In July 2008 DineEquity sold the headquarters (officially called the Restaurant Support Center) for $39 million in a sale-leaseback arrangement. The company has now listed the headquarters for sale and is reported looking for new space after it was announced that its headquarters staff of 325 on January 30, 2009 did not meet Lenexa’s requirement that at least 497 be employed at the headquarters to receive the property tax abatement. In 2011 it announced plans to move to 8140 Ward Parkway in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
proper after receiving $12.65 million in incentives from Missouri.
Forced arbitration
According to a February 11, 2009, report in The Huffington PostThe Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
about the Arbitration Fairness Act, Applebee's employees are barred from suing the company by a binding mandatory arbitration agreement, even if they repeatedly refuse to sign the agreement, and instead repeatedly write on the agreement that they cannot sign it when pressured to do so.