Social Responsibility
Respecting our Neighborhoods
When thousands of people embrace their responsibility to our neighborhoods and our planet, the results can be astounding.
When thousands of people embrace their responsibility to our neighborhoods, the results can be astounding. Since its beginning in 1980, Applebee's has recognized our responsibility to operate with ethical business practices and to be a force for social good. This makes good business sense as it resonates with our associates, franchisees, and most importantly our guests, who are looking more and more closely at how all businesses contribute to society.
In short, Applebee's strives to make a positive impact in the neighborhoods we serve because we believe we have a responsibility to do so. We have seen firsthand that embracing our responsibility to our neighborhoods builds value for our guests, associates and franchisees.
We organize our social responsibility efforts into categories that describe our focus on Caring for the Environment, Supporting our Neighborhoods and Valuing our Associates.
From the food we sell to the buildings in which our iconic brand is housed, our business affects the environment. In addition to complying with applicable laws and regulations, our team works to promote compliance among our suppliers.
Our Concern for Animals
We believe in and support efforts within and outside of our industry to improve the welfare of farm animals. We also rely on experts in the field, such as Dr. Jeffrey Armstrong of the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, to provide scientific guidance on animal welfare issues.
Applebee's accounts for only a small fraction of the animal-based products purchased each year in the U.S., making our ability to impact industry-wide practices somewhat limited. Regardless, we will continue to explore opportunities to improve the treatment of farm animals within the context of our business and the industry.
The Environment
We're regularly looking for new ways to reduce our impact on the environment through improvements in how we supply, design, build and maintain our restaurants. Additionally, the Applebee's Restaurant Support Center, located in Lenexa, KS is a LEED Certified building and is engaged in a variety of recycling efforts. In fact, as of July 2009 we have recycled nearly 49 tons of paper material since opening the building in late 2007. This equates to:
- 831 trees saved
- 18,569 gallons of oil saved
- 342,055 gallons of water saved
- 147 cubic yards of landfill space
Examples like this are encouraging and reinforce our belief that we are making progress. We gain valuable learning through various pilot programs and tests and will be expanding our learning to our restaurants when we're able to do so in the coming years.
2010 Green Initiatives* - Applebee's
- Automatic plumbing fixtures
- Faucets that reduce water usage
- Waterless urinals and/or very low flow (VLF) fixtures
- Energy saving products/initiatives
- devices that automatically turn off lights
- Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning controls that coordinate with kitchen equipment to maximize efficiency
- Fire Up/Fire Down initiative: A heightened awareness program aimed at educating associates on how to be aware of energy-saving practices throughout the restaurant
- Low volatile organic compounds (VOC) interior paint
- Solar reflective windows
Packaging
We source a large amount of paper and plastic goods for our restaurants. In choosing vendors, we not only consider quality and price, but we are also beginning to look at other factors including the amount of recycled content, the types of bleaches, inks or dyes used, and whether sustainable forestry and production practices were utilized. By working with vendors who share our interest in and commitment to good practices, we hope to, over time, improve the environmentally friendly attributes of the goods we purchase.
We have removed 95% of all polystyrene packaging products used in our "to go" orders. We have replaced it with 100% recyclable packaging, allowing safe and clean transport, as well as reducing our impact on the local landfills. We are currently working on the final products that will make us 100% polystyrene free.
Energy Consumption
We continue to work to reduce the energy consumption in our restaurants and our restaurant support centers. For example, nearly all offices in our non-restaurant facilities have motion-activated light switches that automatically lower or turn off the lights if no movement is detected after a period of time.
Many of our restaurants have late night operations, so we are mindful about eliminating lighting for security reasons. However, we have been aggressive about replacing traditional lighting with compact fluorescent lighting wherever possible.
Waste and Recycling
A number of our environmental programs focus on reducing waste generated by our operations. We continue to look for ways to eliminate, reuse or recycle potential waste. One example is the regular recycling of used cooking oil at most of our restaurants.
We value the neighborhoods in which we do business and strive to improve them with our presence. We recognize our success depends not only on the skill sets and contributions of our associates and the relationships we foster with our franchisees, but also on the health and prosperity of the communities in which we do business. We have seen clear and tangible results through our efforts in supporting programs that care for children and improve education.
Our franchisees are a significant source of inspiration and commitment to our neighborhoods. Last year, Applebee’s franchisees’ employees donated 54,000 hours of community service with an average of 30 employees per restaurant donating their time.
We hope to make a difference by giving back in the communities where we operate. In its purest form, it is one way we say "thank you."
Every year Applebee's Services and its franchisees host hundreds of fundraisers and events across the country. Results from various fundraisers include:
- Alex's Lemonade Stand, since 2005 raised $1.2 million
- Make-A-Wish Foundation, raised $300,000 in 2008
- The V Foundation for Cancer Research, more than $120,000 donated in 2008
We also seek to engage our associates in community-investment and development initiatives that serve the communities where we live and operate. Last year, associates at our Restaurant Support Centers invested more than 2,500 person hours of work in our neighborhoods with organizations like Harvesters and Christmas in October.
We believe our corporate responsibility begins with our associates. We're proud of programs we've designed to attract, retain and engage a diverse and talented workforce – programs like our tuition reimbursement programs or the benefits package we offer.
- Competitive salary
- Medical, Dental, Vision
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- Deferred Compensation Program
- Flexible Dependent and Health Spending Accounts
- Life Insurance
- Supplemental Life Insurance for you and your dependents
- Domestic Partner Benefits – same sex or opposite sex
- Pay for Performance culture where employees are rewarded for performance based on agreed upon objectives and ratings targets
- 2 personal days per year (Philanthropy & Employee Choice)
- Business casual dress
We Embrace Diversity
We value, encourage and recognize the diversity of our workforce. We embrace our personal differences—whether it be race, gender, age, religion, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin or physical ability—and the benefits that an array of backgrounds, cultures and thinking styles bring to our organization. After all, the heart and soul of our brand is the people who take pride in their job and help those around them. Our associates are integral to our success. While the world and our business change rapidly, respecting individual differences will continue to be essential to our long-term success.
Above and Beyond
The Applebee’s Heidi Fund was established in 2002 in honor of Heidi Tomassi, an Applebee's server in Olathe, Kansas. At the time, Heidi’s four-month-old son was suffering from a rare heart defect. After two open-heart surgeries, she and her husband were deeply in debt. But when one of her customers accidentally left behind $3,300 in cash, Heidi instinctively did the right thing and returned the money. Her kindness was repaid with an outpouring of financial support from others. To honor Heidi, Applebee’s created the Heidi Fund to provide financial assistance to other Team Members at corporate stores who also find themselves in a financial crisis brought on by a catastrophic life event. The Heidi Fund has also been able to make special grants to employees at franchise locations who have suffered through recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
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