Dozens of restaurant workers around Kansas City found themselves suddenly out of work this week after eight Applebee’s locations closed overnight.
The restaurants were all owned by a single franchise group, Apple Central KC, which filed for bankruptcy that week.
The terminations came as a surprise to employees — many of whom were scheduled to work that same day.
Jae Moyer worked as a server and bartender at the Mission location for five years. But they only found out the restaurant closed through a group chat with their coworkers. Originally, the group chat formed to make it easier to switch shifts.
“But it also gives us a sense of family,” Moyer said. “We would share jokes, memes. We would just, you know, talk about our days, talk about our shifts, talk about our regulars.”
On Wednesday morning, however, a manager broke the news that their restaurant would not open.
“So there were a few folks that showed up to work, and there was literally a sign on the door that was like, hey, this location is permanently closed,” Moyer said. “It was just a shock to all of us.”
Moyer said the Applebee’s staff had no prior indication that the franchise was in trouble.
“We were literally open the night before,” Moyer said. “This decision to close, it just blindsided us.”
In fact, Moyer said October was one of the busiest months they had seen, thanks to the sales from special Halloween cocktails.
Later on Wednesday, Apple Central finally notified employees that they would be laid off.
The franchise group — the subsidiary of a Connecticut company — did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Some questions from employees remain unanswered, though. Moyer said their coworkers don’t have access to their personal belongings left in the Applebee’s. Employees who pick up their paychecks in-person aren’t sure how they will be getting their final payments.
Royal Ford had worked alongside Moyer since August. Like Moyer, he was shocked to lose his job so suddenly, but he's already on the hunt for a new one.
“I'm currently looking for another job. DoorDashing part time,” Ford said. “Just trying to figure out how to make ends meet.”
Apple Central KC filed for bankruptcy in Kansas. According to the franchise group’s filings, it owes between $10 million and $50 million. Its current assets are valued between $1 million and $10 million.
This is not the first controversy the franchise group found itself in.
Apple Central permanently closed its Shawnee and Lenexa locations last year. And the company came under fire in 2022 when an executive’s email, which suggested paying employees less because inflation means they will accept lower wages, got leaked. The email’s sender was fired.
Moyer claimed Apple Central was not hands-on in their restaurants.
“I didn't work with anyone at my location that wasn't hard-working and didn't care about what we were doing there,” Moyer said. “And I feel like the least that the franchisee of the company could have done was support us in that, and make it so that we felt like they had our backs, and that just never felt reciprocated.”
Only two Applebee’s in the Kansas City area remain open: the locations in Blue Springs and Gladstone. Those locations are not owned by Apple Central, but rather by Applebee’s corporate.
A manager at the Gladstone location said he has noticed a bit more traffic since the other Applebee’s closed, and expects it to pick up even more. A Blue Springs manager declined to comment.
In a statement to KCUR, Applebee’s President Tony Moralejo said these closures are not necessarily the end of the chain's presence in the Kansas City region — where it was headquartered for decades before departing in 2015.
“We continue to believe the Kansas City area is a great neighborhood for Applebee’s restaurants,” Moralejo said. “We are exploring options about the future of these restaurants.”
The closed Applebee’s locations are:
- 3404 Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, Kansas
- 1700 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas
- 6800 Johnson Drive, Mission
- 11000 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park
- 16110 W. 135th St., Olathe
- 2912 S. 4th St., Leavenworth
- 9330 East 350 Highway, Raytown
- 1501 NE Douglas St., Lee’s Summit
