“We believe that restaurant closures are an important tool to preserving the financial health of the system,” acting CEO Richard Dahl said in a call to investors this week. The company's CEOCFO
Applebee’s restaurants are disappearing across the US (DIN)
Applebee's will close between 40 and 60 locations this year.
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DineEquity reported fourth quarter earnings this week. Revenue was
Applebee's, which closed 46 locations in 2016, is suffering from an industry-wide slowdown that many analysts fear could be the beginning of a restaurant recession.
"Obviously, we are not immune to the pressures faced by the category during in the fourth quarter, particularly in December, which was the worst for casual dining sales and traffic during 2016," Dahl said to investors.
According to the food-business publication FSR Magazine, only 34% of casual-dining brands recorded by the industry tracker TDn2K had positive comparable restaurant sales in the third quarter of 2016.
Dahl claimed that new products introduced during 2015 and 2016, like its hand-cut grilled meat, did not resonate well with customers and