Millennials: Applebee's Is Selling Margaritas For $1 This Month

SYRACUSE, NY — Last month, the Applebee's restaurant chain announced it would close up to 130 restaurants due to dropping sales. Applebee's had undergone a re-branding in recent years to appeal to millennials — the chain remodeled restaurants and added hip items to the menu, like a shrimp dish with sriracha sauce.

Millennials, however, did not flock the mostly suburban restaurants. Sales were down 6 percent in 2017, the company has said.

But Applebee's might have one more millennial-attracting trick up its sleeve: cheap booze.

Throughout October, all local Applebee's restaurants will sell margaritas for $1 (the company calls them Dollaritas). The promotion is part of Applebee’s Neighborhood Appreciation Month. You can get the $1 drinks anytime, but Applebee's in a press reminded drinkers to "please drink responsibly."

Perhaps cheap alcohol should have been the tactic all along. When Applebee's in August announced the impending restaurant closures, company President John Cywinski told analysts that the company was trying to appeal to "a more youthful and affluent demographic."

There certainly are wealthy millennials out there, but the generation (born from about 1981 to 1997) as a whole entered adulthood in much worse financial shape than previous generations. Many entered the workforce during the Great Recession, which began around 2007. Millennials also graduated college saddled with more student loan debt than any previous generation. The financial troubles of millennials have been well documented.

If you're up for a $1 margarita (and maybe some "Riblets"), there are several Applebee's restaurants in the Syracuse area.

Written by Neal McNamara (Patch Staff), with additional reporting by Michael Woyton/Patch Staff.

Image courtesy Applebee's