Well, for me, I spent 15 years in a very small metro in the panhandle of Florida. When the community theatre folks hung out, a lot of the regulars would go to Applebees. The “edgy”/“outcast” would tend to go to Chilis.
Frankly, the bigoted stuff from the submission aside, both are… fine enough places to hang out and get food. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible.
I liked the Chilis because the ribs were pretty decent. Not amazing, but decent enough. My wife appreciated their battered chicken tenders, until they got rid of them. She’s autistic and that texture is better for her.
Applebees was more boring to me. I can’t tell you off the top of my head what I ever ate there, but it was alright.
In both cases it was more about hanging out with friends.
So really, to answer your question: Meh. lol.
And yes, I know it was rhetoical, but I have ADHD, so I answered anyway. :)
As a lurker who also has ADHD your non-answer here gave me a laugh 😆
Is it part of either/both business’ strategy to open a new location in the same town/strip as the rival location? The Applebees-vs-Chilis experience rings true for me as well. Give the American populace a way to differentiate themselves with extremely similar options lol
So there’s actually four separate reasons for this phenomenon that is partly purposeful and partly accidental/happenstance:
Imagine two ice cream vendors on a busy beach. One opens up in the middle of everything. Another one sees there’s room for competition, but where to open? Do they go down the beach a ways? Well, if they do, they limit the customers to half of the beach. So they open up next door, also right in the middle of the peak crowd.
Imagine going to a Chilis or Applebees and finding out there’s a half hour wait for a table. Would you go 20 minutes down the road to the other place to see if there’s a line? But you might cross the street if they were closer.
Some smaller chains will specifically try to build around larger chains in the hopes that people going to the more well-known chain will see the other chain and be more likely to change their mind and eat there instead
For cities with zoning, they often try to create centers of commerce, which means there’s a limited number of areas that restaurants can open, so this cluesters everyone up as well
So whether there’s an active attempt to open them near each other, it’s going to naturally happen. :)
And I do think it’s fascinating (and highly disappointing) that a lot of these places that started out with a particular vision have sort of sysco’d themselves into bland average boringness, just to eke out a little more profit for the shareholders. meh.
Chilis always had a fucking terrible dry-ass black bean burger as a vegetarian option, but Applebees had broccoli alfredo that was pretty palatable. It’s not like the chilis one was vegan, either.
What kinda values could a restaurant chain that microwaves the shittiest food on the planet possibly have?
Excuse me, that’s Applebees. Chili’s only microwaves some things and deep fries others.
Other than the sign on the building, how can you even tell them apart?
Chips and salsa.
Well, for me, I spent 15 years in a very small metro in the panhandle of Florida. When the community theatre folks hung out, a lot of the regulars would go to Applebees. The “edgy”/“outcast” would tend to go to Chilis.
Frankly, the bigoted stuff from the submission aside, both are… fine enough places to hang out and get food. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible.
I liked the Chilis because the ribs were pretty decent. Not amazing, but decent enough. My wife appreciated their battered chicken tenders, until they got rid of them. She’s autistic and that texture is better for her.
Applebees was more boring to me. I can’t tell you off the top of my head what I ever ate there, but it was alright.
In both cases it was more about hanging out with friends.
So really, to answer your question: Meh. lol.
And yes, I know it was rhetoical, but I have ADHD, so I answered anyway. :)
As a lurker who also has ADHD your non-answer here gave me a laugh 😆
Is it part of either/both business’ strategy to open a new location in the same town/strip as the rival location? The Applebees-vs-Chilis experience rings true for me as well. Give the American populace a way to differentiate themselves with extremely similar options lol
So there’s actually four separate reasons for this phenomenon that is partly purposeful and partly accidental/happenstance:
So whether there’s an active attempt to open them near each other, it’s going to naturally happen. :)
And I do think it’s fascinating (and highly disappointing) that a lot of these places that started out with a particular vision have sort of sysco’d themselves into bland average boringness, just to eke out a little more profit for the shareholders. meh.
Chilis always had a fucking terrible dry-ass black bean burger as a vegetarian option, but Applebees had broccoli alfredo that was pretty palatable. It’s not like the chilis one was vegan, either.
Hey, chef Mike works hard ok?
Shitty?