Applebee's restaurant business and operations

¶ … Eats at Applebee's -- And Why" from the book The American Way of Eating illustrates numerous points about the history of dining. It details the history of the first "formal" (McMillan) restaurant, the history of McDonald's, and discusses the dining experience that was pioneered on trains. However, the predominant thesis of this essay is that Applebee's is a middle-class establishment and the privilege of eating out as a family at family-oriented restaurants such as Applebee's is something that middle class people hold dear. McMillan's essay achieves its argumentative purpose by considering the impact that economics produces on the dining habits of Americans; however she achieves this goal by (or in spite of) maundering and digressing -- which more than likely satisfies the expectations of the genre of a book aimed towards popular culture.

The article focuses on economics as a means of proving that there is an intrinsic relationship between economic realities and the eating experiences of Americans. One of the most interesting facets of McMillan's methodology in demonstrating this relationship is comparing the eating habits of middle class Americans in the 1950s to those in contemporary times. During the former time period, the American economy (largely due to its manufacturing prowess as a global power and the worldwide wars the country waged to maintain capitalism) was prosperous. It was during this time period that the author writes, "…eating out came within reach of far more Americans. First and foremost, we had more money. From 1947 to 1974, our real incomes nearly doubled" (McMillan). This prosperity is contrasted with the dearth of such prosperity in contemporary times. The middle class has certainly shrunk as there appears to be systematic efforts to deliver the concentration of the country's and world's wealth into the hands of a few. Thus, it is a real triumph for families to cling to "the twentieth century American dream, when owning your own home and going out for a nice meal were within easy reach" (McMillan) by going to Applebee's to eat.

Moreover, the author utilizes Applebee's and her tenure working there as a case study for the effect that that economics produces on the dining habits of Americans. As such, it is noteworthy that she mentions that the majority of the patrons at the Applebee's where she is employed are middle class people. She even buttresses her assertion that the patrons of this establishment are middle class by calculating the average amount of money that a family is likely to spend (even with coupons) at this restaurant, and the rate at which families can afford to eat there (McMillan). The author traces the history of Applebee's from its founding in 1980, and implies that eating there is one of the traditions of middle class America. The subsequent quotation about the restaurant chain readily demonstrates this fact.

Eating at these places became a hallmark of American prosperity, a celebration of mainstream, middle-class success. When Applebee's opened a restaurant in the heart of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in 2006, neighborhood leaders and city officials alike considered it a coup -- a sign that the tide was turning for one of America's most infamous ghettoes (McMillan).

Thus, the author is able to demonstrate that eating at Applebee's has actually become synonymous with middle class culture in the U.S. In this respect, the relation between the economy and eating at Applebee's is clear: the economy enables middle-class America to patronize this establishment.

Despite the fact that the author is able to readily demonstrate the effect that the economy has on the dining habits of Americans, she still spends a fair amount of time maundering through details in a way that is typical of non-fiction works that are not expressly scholarly. One has to nearly read through the entirety of her article to understand what the major theme of it is, for the simple fact that she spends so much time digressing. For instance, she dedicates a substantial number of sentences to the illustrious history of Howard Johnson's. Granted, she does so in order to discuss how this business influenced food distribution and its effect on dining for middle class people in the U.S. But doing so does not have to involve a detailed account of how the company prepared an assortment of individual dishes -- which is just what McMillan offers. Similarly, her surfeit of information pertaining to "predecessors" of fast food such as Fred Harvey only serve to distract the reader and obfuscate her main point. Still, there are a number of other non-fiction writers who make similar digressions from their topic, seemingly for the purpose of filling up pages.