Applebee’s focus on menu innovation is paying off

The Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger joined the menu last month. | Photo courtesy of Applebee’s

Applebee’s has been on a bit of a hot streak recently, reporting two straight quarters of same-store sales growth after a long string of declines. 

Much of the success has been driven by a drumbeat of new menu items: It is launching a new entree and new appetizer each quarter, and they are proving popular with customers. 

Last quarter, for instance, a new chicken parm fettuccine was Applebee’s best-selling stand-alone pasta dish, and a new Ultimate Trio Appetizer Sampler was its best-selling app.

The rotation of new menu news goes hand-in-hand with Applebee’s value strategy. New entrees get slotted into its 2 for $25 platform, which then gets promoted in TV ads and other marketing channels to appeal to price-conscious consumers.

This approach helped Applebee’s generate a 3.5%  same-store sales increase last quarter, which included positive traffic. It has maintained that pace in the current quarter, executives said last week. 

The stepped up menu innovation is the result of more than two years of R&D led by VP of Culinary Shannon Johnson, who returned to Applebee’s in 2023 to help build up its menu pipeline. 

New offerings often tie into Applebee’s existing menu categories, like its Bourbon Street section of Cajun-inspired dishes. Or they capitalize on an item or flavor that’s trending, like hot honey.

In the case of the chicken parm, that dish allowed Applebee’s to reapply its new hand-breaded chicken, which has already been working well on sandwiches. 

“It’s very much driven by our marketing team and our brand team working with the culinary team to fill in the needs we have on our menu strategically, based upon [that] framework,” said John Peyton, CEO of Applebee’s parent Dine Brands, in an interview.

New Crispy Pickle Fries tap into the popularity of pickles. | Photo courtesy of Applebee’s

As for that Ultimate Trio Appetizer, it bears a close resemblance to the Triple Dipper appetizer platter at rival Chili’s. The Triple Dipper has been a key part of Chili’s recent comeback. 

Peyton said Applebee’s has had an appetizer sampler on its menu for years. With the Ultimate Trio, it wanted to bring that to the forefront, while also positioning it in a way that was “uniquely Applebee’s” by highlighting the 80,000 different combinations customers can make.

“That’s why you get to choose from 10 apps and 10 sauces, which is more choice than any other appetizer combo available in the marketplace,” Peyton said. 

New items go through rigorous testing before they hit the menu. Applebee’s will host consumer focus groups in some of its biggest markets, where it will serve a new dish, gather feedback and then tweak the recipe in real time. 

“If they say it’s too salty, our culinary team is on-site, they rejigger the recipe, they cook it again with less salt in that example, and then the focus group tries it again,” Peyton said. “By the time the focus group is over, we haven’t just gotten feedback on the item, we’ve actually improved it two or three times by cycling their comments real-time through the kitchen.”

In the current quarter, Applebee’s is promoting Crispy Pickle Fries, tapping into the pickle trend on menus and social media. And on the entree side, it introduced a Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger made with a beef patty, four slices of American cheese and a sweet and savory jam on potato bread for a “deliciously satisfying gooey cheese pull,” according to the chain’s marketing materials. 

The motivation for that item was pretty simple: “The insight there,” Peyton said, “is that guests love cheese.”

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