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” (Applebee’s signature dish).
The business was started by Bill and TJ Palmer in 1980, who opened their first restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Since then the business has been sold several times.
One of the things that set Applebee’s apart from other chain restaurants was their focus on being a “neighborhood” restaurant. Franchise managers were allowed to hand-pick certain items on their menu (though all of the restaurants needed to serve the chain’s signature riblets, fajitas, and apple margaritas) so they could tailor the food to local tastes.
Applebee’s strives to be a neighborhood restaurant, and chances are there’s one near your neighborhood. That’s because there are now nearly 2,000 Applebee’s locations across the country and worldwide.
The restaurant started out humbly in the ’80s, growing at a slow and steady crawl to 100 restaurants by the end of that decade. Four years later, in 1994, they had ballooned to 500 restaurants, and by 1998 they had doubled that number to 1,000.
Applebee’s is open late, and their late-night happy hour is quite the draw. But in some cities in Florida, there’s an even more exciting reason to head to your neighborhood bar and grill – Club Applebee’s, or Club ‘Bee’s for short.
In the early 2010s, some Applebee’s locations in Florida and across the south began turning into Club Applebee’s after 10 p.m., loud nightclubs with music, dancing, and drinks flowing until 2 a.m.
At one time, about 100 Applebee’s restaurants across the south turned into Club Applebee’s at night, though it looks like now most Club Applebee’s locations are in Florida. These locations host the usual dance nights, but also special events like karaoke night and blacklight parties.
According to en.wikipedia.org; mashed.com. Source of photos: internet
