IHOP and Applebee’s Approach the AltarThe $2.1 billion acquisition of Applebee’s by IHOP probably didn’t set too many New York foodie hearts aflutter. The two restaurants are largely interchangeable to the eyes of Manhattan feinschmeckers, and even their most loyal customers in Rego Park and elsewhere think of them mostly as feeding stations, or, in the case of Applebee’s, places to pick up used-carpet salesmen. But there’s more to both companies than meets the eye, with two different business models and even two different corporate cultures. Our crack staff analyzes the deal at Daily Intel.
IHOP Bids for Applebee’s: The End of an American Institution? [Daily Intel]
Beef
Best of the Rest on the Best of New YorkWe’re not Nostradamus, but we called this: Best of New York Eating & Drinking has everybody talking! Daily Intel does us the fine service of cherry-picking some of the most amusing blog spew. Do you disagree with the disagreements? (And does that make you dizzy?) Click and get back to us later.
New Yorkers Know Best [Daily Intel]
NewsFeed
Food Kept From Drew Nieporent; Fellow Diners Fear for LivesYou would think that Drew Nieporent, as one of the most famous and influential of New York restaurateurs (not to mention one of the most recognizable) would be able to get decent service at a good Manhattan restaurant. You can see where we’re headed with this: Yesterday at the Cafe at Country, the jolly mogul was made to wait … and wait … and wait for his meal. “This is my worst nightmare, that this would happen in one of my own restaurants,” Nieporent said. Find out the full story at Daily Intel.
Celebrity Restaurateurs: They Get Slow Service Just Like Us! [Daily Intel]