Free Republic

Would you pay $650 for a table at Applebee’s in Times Square to watch the ball drop? Apparently many New Year’s Eve revelers are willing to fork over just that and even more — including $12,500 for a luxury couples package at the Marriott Marquis — to ring in 2024, according to events entrepreneur Joshua Perla. Perla, founder of events sites BallDrop.com and NewYears.com, said business has been brisk for the 30 different Times Square packages. “We are seeing an uptick in the price consumers are spending on New Year’s Eve tickets that include a live view of the ball...

One branch in Darien, Conn., charged as much as $18 for a Big Mac combo meal, which includes medium fries and a medium soft drink. Meanwhile, that same Big Mac combo will run hungry patrons $13.69 at a McDonald’s in Times Square. Shares of McDonald’s closed up 1.7% to $260.15. Net income rose to $2.3 billion, up from $1.98 billion in the same period last year, and same-store sales in the US increased by 8.1%, again attributed to price hikes. During an earnings call with investors, CFO Ian Borden confirmed that the company’s US prices did increase in the third...

A man dining at Applebee’s watched another man grab a steak knife and start swinging the weapon — so he leapt into action, authorities in New York say. After the knife-wielding attacker slashed one worker in the face while fighting several staff members, the man eating dinner pulled out a handgun at the New Hartford restaurant the evening of Jan. 14, a police news release said. The diner, with his gun drawn, ordered Esteban F. Padron, 28, to drop the knife and get on the ground, according to police. Padron listened to the commands and stayed on the ground until...

DES MOINES, IA — A local couple has discovered the perfect deterrent to help them handle rowdy children. The exasperated mother and father warned their overly rambunctious kids that if they didn't start behaving, they would take them to Applebee's for dinner. "Worked like a charm! They quieted down right away!" said relieved dad, Michael Tucci. "They have been acting up all day long, whining, bickering, misbehaving…but we fixed that real quick with a simple threat of taking them to a God-forsaken hellscape of greasy, tasteless food guaranteed to cause indigestion." Michael returned home from work to learn that the...

To Applebee's franchise executive Wayne Pankratz, surging gas prices are an opportunity for his business, rather than a downside. That's because, as he told managers at franchise owner Apple Central in an emailed memo, the pool of people who work at Applebee's live "paycheck to paycheck" and will be forced "back into the work force" to earn more. Pankratz also saw another silver lining: High gas prices will increase costs for competitors, who won't be able to increase wages to the extent they had been. "We all competed to hire out of the limited applicant pool and there was a...

Amid Thursday morning coverage of the air attacks in Ukraine by Russia, CNN aired an Applebee’s ad — side-by-side with the headline “Russia Invades Ukraine” – and reactions were not favorable. In response, Applebee’s suspended its ads on the network, telling Forbes.com it was “deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine.” “When we were made aware that our ad was placed in this manner, we immediately reached out to CNN to pause our advertising on their network,” Applebee’s said in the statement. “It never should have aired, and we are disappointed in the actions of the network.”

As Europe descends into war, chaos and death, CNN and MSNBC thought the appropriate, reserved way to handle the situation would be to blend live coverage with beer and chicken commercials. It went about as badly as you might imagine. Anchor Bianna Golodryga on Thursday related heartbreaking details: “It should be packed with commuters but subway stations in Ukrainian cities under fire and turned into makeshift bomb shelters. Families having to protect their little children.” Going to commercial break, she added, “Air raid sirens are ringing out this morning.” Then, with half the screen showing the spiraling situation in Kyiv,...

Four women were sentenced Tuesday after they pleaded guilty to beating up an Applebee’s waitress who served them, stabbing her with a steak knife and then stealing her tip money. A Henry County judge sentenced Demetrius Boyd to time served after she entered a guilty plea in the 2018 attack, according to Assistant District Attorney Megan Matteucci. Boyd spent two years behind bars in the incident. Two other family members, Lakisha Boyd and Keterah Boyd, were each sentenced to three months in jail and five years on probation, and Lasondra Boyd was sentenced to 15 days in jail and two...

A man used a bicycle as a weapon against an Applebee’s cook during a bizarre outburst. The suspect allegedly made a scene at one of the restaurant chain’s Wisconsin locations that involved yelling racial slurs at other customers, including children. When authorities later located the man, they reportedly found an explosive in the bag he was carrying at the time. The incident occurred last Wednesday around 9 in the evening, Kenosha News reports. The suspect, identified as Matthew Arnst, reportedly yelled and screamed at other customers and allegedly directed racial slurs at several people.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football Countdown team should probably stick to sports after angering an entire town over their choice of chicken wings. The crew was in Buffalo, N.Y., for the Buffalo Bills-New England Patriots matchup and decided to host a pre-game segment revolving around the city’s pride and joy — Buffalo wings. However, the segment, titled “What’s your sauce,” did not please native Buffalonians. Instead of featuring a local establishment for its “true Buffalo flavor,” the commentators had Applebee’s, which was sponsoring the show.

4 suspects in assault of Applebee’s waitress identified A waitress required 15 stitches after she was attacked by four women she served Tuesday night at a Henry County Applebee’s, police said. The women beat and punched the waitress and stabbed her in the forearm with a steak knife, McDonough police Maj. Kyle Helgerson told AJC.com. They allegedly took her tip money before they skipped out on a $62.57 bill. Authorities identified the four women as Demetrius Boyd, Keterah Boyd, Lakisha Boyd and Lashondra Boyd.

A waitress required 15 stitches after she was attacked by four women she served Tuesday night at a Henry County Applebee’s. The women beat and punched the waitress and stabbed her in the forearm with a steak knife, McDonough police Maj. Kyle Helgerson told AJC.com. They allegedly took her tips before they skipped out on a $62.57 bill. Helgerson said it all started when the women were having dinner at the Industrial Boulevard location in McDonough, and one of the diners was sitting with her leg out in an aisle. “The waitress had brushed up against her leg,” Helgerson said....

In late 2011, a 16-year-old girl from suburban St. Louis landed her first job as a waitress at a local IHOP restaurant. She needed to work there for at least a year to complete her high school co-op program. At first, it made her uncomfortable when her boss repeatedly complimented her appearance. Within a few months, his behavior made her terrified to go to work. The Illinois teen's fear of getting fired — and not graduating on time — led her to put up with escalating sexual harassment from the restaurant's general manager, according to allegations described in federal court...

The CEO of Apple-Metro Inc., a company that operates about 40 Applebee’s restaurants in the New York metropolitan area, said he’s been forced to cut at at least 1,000 servers in the past year as a result of New York’s recent minimum wage hike. “We have 1,000 less servers this time this year than we did this time last year,” Zane Tankel told Fox Business’ Stuart Varney on Monday. That amounts a two-thirds reduction of his total workforce, Tankel said. Tankel said the minimum wage increase has forced him to adopt a “concierge” type model of having servers help customers operate self-serve...

PASO ROBLES, Calif. (AP) — A pregnant California woman has filed a claim saying she found a bloody fingertip in a salad at an Applebee's restaurant in Paso Robles. Cathleen Martin of Atascadero tells The Tribune (http://bit.ly/1S8TXpx) in San Luis Obispo that she was with her husband and child at the restaurant in December and everyone ate from her Chinese chicken salad. Attorney Eric Traut of Santa Ana says the manager confirmed the fingertip belonged to a cook.

Nearly a month after an Applebee's manager was shot to death in a Georgia restaurant’s parking lot, two men have been charged with his murder. Fayetteville police say Greg Haney Jr., 24, and Ledarius Jawon Jackson, 25, gunned down Gregory Smith in a coldblooded robbery attempt that wrongly assumed he was carrying cash. The 27-year-old father to a 15-month-old girl was discovered dead several hours later by his fiancée after he failed to return home and she grew concerned.

Alonzo Liverman didn't have any cash when he approached an undercover officer posing as a prostitute in Daytona Beach on Monday morning, police said. But he did have a salad from Applebee's. According to an arrest report released Thursday, the officer, who was working a reverse prostitution sting in the area of Fremont and South Ridgewood avenues, told Liverman she was hungry and asked, "You got food?"

But once a year, Applebee’s goes high-end. The chain’s franchise-owned restaurant in the heart of New York’s Times Square offers a $375-a-person New Year’s Eve bash that’s billed as “a night to remember.” (Those under 12 can get in for $250.)

FULL TITLE: Applebee's called police on family and threw them out of restaurant because their kids were 'too active' A couple said they are 'heartbroken' after staff at Applebee's called police on them because their children were being too active, it emerged today. Eli Gau and his wife Lillian Maliti admit their sons Ryan, three, and Ethan, one, can be a handful at times but nothing that would warrant being asked to leave a 'family-friendly' restaurant. On Sunday night the family of four went to an Applebee's restaurant in Katy, Texas, for dinner. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Everything seemed normal...

Imagine you're a waitress, out with friends on a night off, when you lose your wallet. Cash, credit cards, driver's license—all gone. Your bank later informs you that checks are being issued in your name.