Applebee's Closing Up To 135 Locations This Year

Anywhere between 105 and 135 Applebee's restaurants and between 20 and 25 IHOP locations will be closing this year, the restaurants' parent company, dineEquity, said in a statement.

"We are investing in the empowerment of our brands by improving overall franchisee financial health, closing underperforming restaurants and enhancing the supply chain. We are focusing on operations and elevating the guest experience, whether in our restaurants or off-premise. We believe 2017 will be a transitional year for Applebee's and we are making the necessary investments for overall long-term brand health and expect to see improvement over the next year," Richard J. Dahl, chairman and interim CEO of dineEquity, Inc. said in the statement.

dineEquity said it had previously planned on closing between 40 to 60 restaurants, making the numbers announced Thursday a significant increase from previous projections. The company did not say which restaurants are on the chopping block but that expected closures will be based on several criteria, including franchisee profitability, operational results and meeting brand quality standards.

The company had previously projected that about 18 IHOP restaurants would be closing.

The closure of Applebee's is the latest in a string of such announcements. Last month, Starbucks announced it would be closing close to 400 of its Tevana retail stores.

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