Comments on: Military: Free Applebee’s Tonight… Maybe…

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:08:17 +0000

I just called my local Applebees and the National Headquarters to express my displeasure with this promotion. As mentionedin an earlier comment, the fine print was so fine that you had to work to find out this wasn’t occuring in your area (in fact in almost no areas near major military bases). I was going to take my entire family to Applebees to celebrate their “honoring” veterans, but now, we not only won’t go today–we’ll never go there again.

By: Patrick Lenow

Patrick Lenow — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:47:36 +0000

Applebee’s is testing this promotion. Like most promotions we consider for national rollout, we test in limited locations first. I am sure you can imagine the logistics of something like this. We need to understand demand on a small scale, amount of food necessary, labor necessary, etc.

The worst thing that could happen is to invite the military in and then run out of food, or not have enough servers available. Simply put, this is a year one test and a promotion that will be considered on a national basis in future years.

Thanks for the opportunity to explain.

Patrick Lenow
Executive Director, Communications
DineEquity, Inc. (parent company of Applebee’s)

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:08:29 +0000

John, I’m not sure how much sense that makes though. I mean starting small is one thing, but if you are going to do it, you should make it well known in the offer that it’s X% of Applebee’s nationwide, so people get the idea that it’s not everyone and they should check the list.

They are surely testing that one city in Arizona and Wisconsin terribly thoroughly while ignoring about 250 mile radius around Northern California, all of Texas, and all of New England, etc…

By: John

John — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:35:10 +0000

This is not a franchise vs. corporate store issue. It is a corporate decision that is stated on the web site: “We are starting on a small scale to ensure we can best understand how to staff and service these important guests.” said Mike Archer, President, Applebee’s Services, Inc.”

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:34:09 +0000

Yeah, franchising can be difficult that way... some of the freebies offered for voting were only at select locations and it caused a problem for a lot of places. There are other veteran's day freebies and discounts as well, so maybe you can take advantage of those. Check out these offers: Veteran’s Day Free Meals and Discounts and Freebies For Veterans.

By: Aya @ Thrive

Aya @ Thrive — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:15:02 +0000

I wonder if this will hit Applebee’s hard, or at least their marketing team because this doesn’t seem to be an effective strategy from the looks of it. I feel like not many people would go as far to read that fine print and they would just be disappointed and puzzled by the limited number of participating stores. So much for trying to look like they’re offering a good deal.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:16:44 +0000

In this situation they should have placed more emphasis on visiting thier website to find a participating location.

But on the otherhand it should have been looked into a bit more by the patrons since as they say “if it sounds too good to be true, it must be!”

I suspect that we will see a story on Consumerist about this soon enough, haha

Larry

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:36:50 +0000

I tried to head off that comment right away. They shouldn’t have made participation up to the individual owners in the same way that they get every store to agree to agree on the 2 for $20 pricing model.

Also if you are going to handle it this way, make sure it’s abundantly clear – not a “click to see participating stores” in the small letters at the end. I’ve seen the e-mail chains that are going around now, and there are going to be thousands and thousands of people showing up disappointed because the fine print was hidden.

By: Traciatim

Traciatim — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:19:47 +0000

“Is Applebee’s saying that some neighborhoods are not worth getting people together? Are they saying that it’s only worth honoring some of the military?”

No, they are saying their stores are independently owned and operated and participation is up to the individual owners . . . that’s what it looks like to me. Complain to the owners, not Applebees.