Applebee's is a brand for a chain of restaurant called the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar, with more than 2010 restaurants operating in United States, 14 other countries and 1 union territory. The company is now based in Kansas City, MO since September 2011. It is a world’s largest casual dining restaurant chain since November, 2007.
History
Bill and T.J Palmer started Apple Bee’s chain and started their first restaurant, called T.J Applebee’s Rx for Edibles & Elixirs on January 1st 1980 in the city of Decatur, GA. After a while, they opened their second restaurant and both of them sold their company to W. R Grace and Company. Bill Palmer was made the president of Applebee’s Section, which was an indirect subsidiary of W. R Grace and Company. He then, guided its operations to make it into a full functional franchise system. He became the franchisee of Applebee’s and now has more than 30 Applebee’s restaurants.
The chain of restaurants got its new name, Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar in 1986. The name reflected the original concept of place which people could relate to. Applebee’s International Inc, became the chain’s franchiser when John Hamra and Abe Gustin, the company franchisers bought the rights to the Applebee’s concept from W. R Grace in 1988.
Menu
The menu of Applebee’s has a huge variety of:
Appetizers
Salads
Pick and Pair
Desserts
Beverages
Food for weight watchers
Food for kids
Entrees
Main dishes
Burgers and sandwiches
Sizzling Entrees
Advertising
Wanda Sykes was hired to give her voice to the restaurant’s new mascot, the Applebee’s apple as part of its promotion and advertising.
Slogans
Criticism or controversies
The restaurant was criticized to give order different from what was offered by the guests at restaurant. A mother and her child were dining at the restaurant in 2005 and ordered for apple juice for the child, however, they served them Long Island Iced Tea. Another incident that took place was in the year 2007, where two year child was served Margarita instead of apple juice. This was due to the two drinks kept and stored in the same kind of bottles which created a lot of confusion. In 2011, a 15 month old toddler was taken to hospital when he was served margarita in place of apple juice by the staff of the restaurant.
Trivia