$1 Long Island Iced Tea from Applebee’s: Drink Deal Won’t Save Dying Restaurant Chain
When your restaurant is struggling to attract customers, how do you turn it around? What about selling alcoholic drinks for $1? In October, the troubled Applebee’s restaurant chain decided to offer $1 margaritas called “Dollaritas”. This promotion apparently worked well, aside from some criticism that the drinks didn’t seem to contain much booze. And after recently suffering a greater than 6% decline in same store sales and having to close 100 of its locations, the restaurant chain decided to double down.
Now, for the month of December, you can get a $1 Long Island Iced Tea from Applebee’s. The chain apparently took the low alcohol criticism to heart because it chose a cocktail for this drink deal that includes five different kinds: vodka, rum, tequila, gin, and triple sec (orange liqueur). The drink contains no tea, but just enough cola to give it the same light brown hue.
As many college students can attest, there’s only one reason to order a Long Island Iced Tea: to get drunk. This stealthy drink has a higher alcohol content than most people expect. You think you’re getting some spiked orange-flavored cola, but this is a drink with very little mixer; it contains about 22% alcohol. And its combination of different spirits hits some people especially hard. If you make it home in one piece, expect a hangover the next morning.
So I have some issues with this drink deal of $1 Long Island Iced Tea from Applebee’s (presented in no particular order).
First, Applebee’s is setting its sights low. The promotion is called L.I.T. In drinking parlance, lit means drunk, so the restaurant chain knows exactly who it is aiming for here. Its demographic is those who don’t care that “L.I.I.T.” (with two I’s) would be the right abbreviation for Long Island Iced Tea. Before finishing a glass of this stuff, you’ll be so L.I.T. lit you won’t care how they spell it.
Second, if you’re going to get people drunk, why not offer them something enjoyable to drink? There are cheap wines and there are better tasting cocktails that can use distilled alcohol. Or just give them the rotgut stuff straight up.
Third, if you want people to order food and spend more money at your restaurant, doesn’t it make more sense to get them drunk slowly (not all at once)? Maybe dollar beers don’t have the same ring to them. LIITs are bombs. For reference, a Long Island Iced Tea has the same amount of alcohol as 4-5 beers or glasses of wine. “Would you like wine with dinner, sir?” “Sure, but let me slam the whole bottle before I order a main course.”
When I was in college, there was a time when I could get through more than one Long Island Iced Tea, but no more. If you have a substantial portion of the customers who are calling for a ride after spending $1-2 on drinks, doesn’t it seem like a stupid idea to send them home before they can order much food?
Source: twitter.com
Alternatively, if they’re fully lit before it’s time to go home, do you really want them hanging around your bar/restaurant? Applebee’s still promotes itself as a family restaurant chain. If customers are starting fights and vomiting even before they get the munchies, you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel there.
The only successful shopping areas these days are the ones with trendy restaurants that serve good food. Diners are taking pictures of what they eat, writing reviews, and posting it all on Steemit. Good food brings people out. Retail is dying and so are lousy restaurants. Even many fast food places are getting the message that people want to eat decent quality food when they go out.
This restaurant is fading fast because it hasn’t gotten the message. In offering the $1 Long Island Iced Tea drink deal in December, Applebee’s is making a desperate move. This is like trying to attract guys to your website with a clickbait ad like “Hottest Chick Ever”. And then showing them only one photo or video before you’re able to push your range of products.
For the January promotion, how about putting some decent food on the menu? Maybe that would bring back your customers.
Sources:
People Magazine: http://people.com/food/applebees-dollar-long-island-iced-teas/
Alcohol content of drinks (Loyola Marymount University): http://academics.lmu.edu/headsup/forstudents/standarddrinks/
Image sources: General Internet memes and random non-copyrighted material, except where noted. Top image courtesy of Applebee's Restaurants LLC.
Nice article. Must say that i haven't actually ever visited applebee's. Seems i might be too late upon my next visit to the states... :o)
Applebees it hit or miss. There REAL good at missing! lol
My first ever wage job I was a bus boy for applebees for a few months. Running into my coworkers coming out of the kitchen, rolling silverware, cleaning up spills. Yeah probably a chain that just needs to die finally.
HAHA thats funny you said is tastes like microwaved food because EVERYTHING we make here at Applebees just about comes out of the microwave! Dont eat here!
That's quite an endorsement!
I never really liked Applebees. It tasted like microwaved food at an expensive price.
haha yea but with I might check it out for that LIT drink I can use some of my STEEM COIN lol
That's what it is!
good and nice
by pure chance here we have the Polar Light
Made in Venezuela
esta buena y mas si hoy es viernes jajajaja...
mas si es primero de diciembre
I am vVenezuelan and as I scrolled this really caught my eye. You brought back some good memories! Drink Polar!
Que bueno mi pana. una fria mata calor. jejejeje
So, I take it you don't like Long Island's? I think they're one of the best tasting drinks around, but maybe I'm just a weirdo :)
I think applebees is pretty fucked at this point, and even if they DID start putting out good quality food they've basically screwed the pooch here and I don't think it'll be easy for them to come back. I've talked with several people who have worked at applebee's before, and almost all of the food is prepackaged and microwaved for gods sake. It's shocking to me that they've even been able to keep their business going as long as they have.
They taste fine, but it's basically an excuse to chug a bunch of alcohol. There are better tasting drinks out there IMO.
I honestly think they taste really good, very smooth and I'd rank them in my top 5 cocktails. But, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not too heavy of a drinker, I've probably only tried like 2 dozen cocktails, lol.
Yeah I just heard of this, this is awesome lol...One time I was at applebees in Athens Ohio with my girlfriend and a mouse ran from under our table into the kitchen. It was crazy!! The sad part is I still eat there lol...The boneless wings are on point
They clearly chose long island iced tea's because of the acronym. The problem why we aren't raving about this deal is because it doesn't align with Applebee's Brand.
I completely agree that this won't save their company, and to me, this is a red flag. Applebee's is getting desperate, and they are trying to attach themselves to anything, even if it sacrifices their brand.
If Applebee's wants to turn their company around, I believe they need to stick to their roots like how chili's has brought back their "baby back ribs" campaign. Applebee's could be a nice family restaurant, but they need to make big changes.
Yes, it smacks of desperation for sure.
You have a lot of awesome posts, but this is by far one of your best ones man. I needed this one today! Thanks.
There is nothing good that can come from this. The only one's that are gonna make money is the court system from all the DUI's. Hopefully nobody gets into a really bad accident from this dumb promotion.
Geez. I'm not a hard drinker and I dont think I would even order some of this even for a cheap
price.