Eating good in your NJ neighborhood? U.S. company closing 35 restaurants

🍎 A popular restaurant chain plans to close 35 U.S. locations in 2024

🍎The parent company plans to focus on expanding another restaurant brand

🍎 Is New Jersey affected?

There’s something sad going on in the neighborhood.

Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill will be closing multiple locations across the U.S. this year, its parent company Dine Brands Global announced.

During a fourth-quarter earnings call in February, Applebee’s president Tony Moralejo said that while about 35 Applebee’s restaurants will close, up to 25 new IHOP restaurants (also owned by Dine Brands Global) are set to open in 2024.

“With our new development strategy in place, we feel confident in our ability to continue to open up new restaurants and scale the footprint of our brands over time,” Moralejo said, and reported by TODAY.com.

According to a recent press release, Applebee’s year-over-year domestic comparable same-restaurant sales declined nearly 5% during the first quarter of 2024. To-go orders accounted for a little more than 22% of the company’s sales during that same period compared to 23% in 2023.

In 2017, Applebee’s closed more than 100 restaurants across the country, and in 2023, the restaurant chain closed 33 domestic locations, whereas, IHOP opened 46 restaurants across the nation last year.

It’s not clear which Applebee’s locations will close this year, but the restaurant chain has more than 1,500 locations across 11 countries, including 55 in New Jersey, according to its website.

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