Comfort Food Chain Restaurants May Close

It seems that every other week we hear of more and more chain restaurants closing their doors. But when these two were announced that they could be closing more than one hundred across the country, I was surprised. With a loss of revenue and a shift in the "healthier" fast food type restaurants like Panera and Chipotle, Applebee's is seeing a significant hit. DineEquity, the parent company of both Applebee's and IHOP, have announced that they are closing a number of restaurants across the country.

There are currently eight Applebee's and two IHOPs here in the Capital Region. Dine Equity said that they are set to close between 105 and 135 of its Applebee's. They also said that they will close 20 to 25 of their IHOP restaurants.

Although it is not known if our Applebee's and IHOPs will close, DineEquity has criteria that will shut them down. The closures will be based on each franchisee profitablitly, meeting their brand quality standards and results of how they operate.

I don't really care for Applebee's, but I do know that it will cost a lot of people jobs if they close. I am more attached to IHOP, there are only two in our area. Where would I go to get the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity?!