Applebee's restaurant in Sarasota just closed — same day a local Chili's shuttered
While one last basket of razor-thin, heavily salted tortilla chips and red salsa was being served at the Chili's on South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, someone eight miles away at the Applebee's on University Parkway was digging into their final order of boneless wings glazed in that sweet and tangy honey barbecue sauce.
Yes, two titans of the American restaurant chain world shuttered Sarasota-Manatee locations this week. As previously reported, the Chili's Bar & Grill near Trader Joe's permanently closed Monday, May 19. The Herald-Tribune has since confirmed that the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar at 3255 University Parkway also closed for good that same day, according to a guest relations specialist who verified the news on Tuesday, May 20.
After nearly 40 years, a Sarasota Chili's restaurant has closed
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The Applebee's guest relations specialist declined to provide a reason for the closure or comment on what it might mean for the restaurant chain's other nearby locations. However, the Applebee's website shows that several Sarasota-Manatee locations remain open, including:
5550 Fruitville Road, Sarasota
5490 Clark Road, Sarasota
4329 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice
4301 Cortez Road, Bradenton
4638 State Road 64 E., Bradenton
5908 18th St. E., Ellenton
17500 Tamiami Trail, North Port
Nearly a decade ago, Applebee's closed its most prominent Sarasota location — the one downtown in the Sarasota Main Plaza, adjacent to the movie theater on Main Street.
Sarasota Main Plaza opened in 1997 with Applebee's — at 1991 Main St. — as one of its original restaurants. Today, the spot is occupied by the high-end apartment complex Aster & Links, with the movie theater still operating next door.
Chili's Grill & Bar was founded in Texas in 1975 and is currently owned and operated by Dallas-based Brinker International. The Chili's that recently closed at 4131 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota opened in the mid-1980s, while the Applebee's that closed this week at 3255 University Parkway in Manatee County was open since at least 1999, when it first appears in Herald-Tribune archives. Applebee's was founded in 1980 in Atlanta.
There's no indication that these Sarasota-Manatee Applebee's and Chili's closures are part of a companywide initiative by the respective chains — just isolated incidents that happened to occur eight miles apart.
Contributing: Jimmy Geurts, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Florida Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and X. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Applebee's restaurant in Sarasota just closed — here's what we know
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