Chili's and Applebee's shut down neighboring restaurants in the same city on the same day

A Florida community watched as two fast-casual restaurant titans permanently closed on the same day.
Residents in Sarasota are going to have to find a new spot for enchiladas and mozzarella sticks: the local Chili's and Applebee's restaurants both closed.
Final plates were served at the Chili's on May 19. The restaurant had been open since 1986.
'It was a great place to hang with friends and meet new ones,' Judd McKean, a local resident and self-described bar-fly, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about the closure.
'I'll definitely miss the place.'
Restaurant-goers who want to grab a bite at the chain can still head to the Chili's location closer to Lake Sarasota.
Similarly, the final Applebee's $1 margaritas were also served from the University Parkway location on May 19.
Another location is still serving diners in Fruitville.
Nationally, Chili's and Applebee's have been on very different sales trajectories.
Dine Brands Global, the owner of Applebee's, reported a 2.2 percent sales decline during its latest earnings on Tuesday.
The corporation said Applebee's had raked in $1 billion in the first three months of 2025.
In an effort to reinvigorate customers, Applebee's has leaned into more deals and better customer rewards.
'We are focused on elevating guests' experience, enhancing the menu by focusing on our core products, and better communicating offers through dynamic marketing,' John Peyton, the company's CEO, said during the company's March earnings call.
Meanwhile, Chili's has had a surprising resurgence.
Chili's parent company Brinker International made $1.43 billion inn revenue in the latest quarter, and Chili's same-store sales jumped 31.6 percent.
Chili's solid performance has largely been attributed to the company's low-cost meals and constant mentions on social media.
Chili's has received enormous goodwill on social media, with customers praising the brand's value-packed menu
Fast casual chains across the US have been struggling with a toxic mix of higher food prices and lower consumer appetite
Chili's is perhaps the red herring in the fast casual dining industry.
Several big-name restaurants — including Hooters, Red Lobster, and TGI Fridays — have all shuttered hundreds of restaurants and declared bankruptcy.
Restaurants have been dealing with a toxic mix of inflationary pressures on their offerings.
Food prices have skyrocketed, leaving the companies with higher costs to run their stores.
Meanwhile, middle-class shoppers, the core audience for the chains, have cut back on discretionary spending as they pay higher prices at the grocery store.
Combining lower revenues with higher costs to stay alive has given several brands a poison pill.
and cut back their year-long forecasts.

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