Applebee’s closing 8 more, employees are blindsided

Applebee’s calling it quits. 

Blog King, Mass Appeal

KANSAS CITY — If you recall, on Halloween 🎃, I told y’all eight Applebee’s restaurants are closing in Kansas City. Well, last night, 6 of ’em said, “F*ck it,” and closed their doors for good. Then, we learned the Neighborhood Bar & Grill (as a corporation) filed bankruptcy — which means not only are employees out of work, they may not get their final paycheck either. Ain’t that a bitch? “I immediately called my general manager and said, tell me this isn’t true,” Erica Woolery, a former shift leader and bartender at the Applebee’s at 135th & Brougham in Olathe, told reporters. “It’s heartbreaking. It really is. I’m on the hunt for a new job and I didn’t expect to be. I recently got engaged, and now I have to push my wedding plans back.” Wait a minute. Hold up. Push your wedding back? No Erica. You’re a woman. Tell your dude to get a job and pay for it himself.

If he loves you, he’ll do it.

Laney Mahoney, who worked at the same Applebee’s, confirmed many employees have yet to be remunerated. She also said her boss didn’t give a heads up. No warning. Nothing. Here’s what pisses me off: When an employee quits a job, he or she is supposed to give a 2-week notice — right? So… why can’t employers do the same? “We loved working here,” Laney said.

“So, we felt extremely blindsided and disrespected that there was no warning or anything. A lot of us were just left with no job.”

In case you didn’t know, Applebee’s used to have 1,600 locations nationwide. Now it’s roughly half of that. Only two will remain in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area — the one in Blue Springs and the one in Gladstone. That’s it. Dan Janssen, who used to work in Applebee’s corporate headquarters in KC, said online food companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats are putting dine-in restaurants out of business — mainly because you and I would rather have their sh*t delivered versus waiting in a crowded-ass restaurant.

Netflix did the same sh*t to Blockbuster.

Technology is a bitch.

“You can’t change the concept drastically and maintain your customer base with the evolution of the life cycle of a restaurant,” Dan explained.

Sit-down eateries like Cracker Barrel are also on the chopping block, whereas buffets like Golden Corral and China Town continue to survive because obese customers ain’t turning down an all-you-can-eat opportunity.

They’ll drive a million miles for that sh*t.

One time, I went to Golden Corral and saw a corpulent patron who weighed close to a metric ton.

You can tell he spent thousands of dollars in that bitch.

Homeboy is single-handedly keeping ’em in business.

Oh, well.

Applebee’s, rest in peace.

We’re gonna miss ya.

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