Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar takes its role seriously as a friendly restaurant accessible to everyone, and over the past year it has partnered with highly relevant liquor brands to emphasize that role and brand positioning.
It started around Valentine’s Day with Still Together Sips, two drinks developed in collaboration with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Martha Stewart and their Still G.I.N. by Dre and Snoop.
The Young, Wild & Free Fruit Punch mixed the alcohol with grenadine, lemon sour mix, and pineapple juice for $7. The Rollin’ On the Beach, a variation on the classic cocktail Sex on the Beach, combined the gin with peach schnapps and prickly pear, orange, and cranberry juices.
Gin might not immediately come to mind as a spirit to order at Applebee’s, but Nate Grover, the chain’s executive director of bar and beverage, said it’s in the chain’s wheelhouse.
“We are a full bar, so we look for opportunities to celebrate all of the categories,” he said. “Our position around variety opened the door for us to partner with them, and the rationale for us was that brands that are winning today are distinct and culturally relevant. There’s nobody more culturally relevant than Snoop, Dre, and Martha.”
That was particularly true this winter, when Snoop was covering the Olympics for NBC.
“Applebee’s is about friendship and coming together over great food and drinks, and what really drew us to Still G.I.N. was these iconic figures and the relationship and friendship they’ve built over the years,” he said.
And the cocktails they created were true to both brands. The Young, Wild & Free Fruit Punch was created after they learned that Snoop Dogg likes to drink gin with punch. Rollin’ on the Beach was created because Sex on the Beach was already a popular drink at Applebee’s.
“The naming was about Snoop and Dre’s friendship,” Grover said. The drinks were served with a temporary tattoo, “because what’s more endearing than going and getting a tattoo with your loved ones?” he added.
Then this summer Applebee’s partnered with a highly relevant tequila brand, Don Julio, for its Poolio with Don Julio promotion.
It included two cocktails. The Sunny Sipper Margarita was made with Don Julio reposado tequila, Malibu coconut rum, blue Curaçao, pineapple juice, and lime. The Belly Floppin’ Melon Margarita featured the same tequila with Smirnoff vodka, triple sec, watermelon, and lime.
Both were priced at $14 and were served in a large, pool-shaped Don Julio branded cup for customers to take home.
“We have a strong focus on value, and for us that can mean both aggressive value like the Dollarita [which costs $1] that plays into our barbell strategy with an entry point that gives people a reason to say ‘yes,’ and the notion of abundant value and premium experiences that gives them a reason to trade up,” Grover said.
Additionally, the unusual, and large, 20-ounce pool-shaped cups were social-media friendly.
“They prompted guests to talk about it, take out their phones, and post it,” Grover said. “We’re seeing that younger customers, especially, like limited-time exclusives, so this drove a pretty successful promotion for us.”
On top of that, Applebee’s is the neighborhood grill & bar, “and pools are physically in people’s neighborhoods, and pool parties are where friends and families gather.”
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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