The original Applebee's was located on Memorial Drive right off I 285 in Decatur Ga. This building was an old "Judy's Hamburgers" building.  Judy's was sued by Wendy's for copying their concept and they were put out of business.  That left many of these vacant restaurant buildings on the market due to this legal action.  The location we selected was remodeled by Davis Design owned by Earl Davis and Bob McCurley, who became our partners and Founders of the company.  Our loan is shown below listing the Founders of Applebee's and their contributions to our first location.   We opened on November 19, 1980.  From 8 PM until 10 PM we offered free food and beverage to invited guests and anyone who walked in off the street.   At 10 PM we opened for business and remained open until 4 AM.  Some of our food purveyors gifted us with various menu items for our opening party as did some of our liquor and beer purveyors.  We opened our first store with only forty thousand dollars: an impossible feat in today's market.

It was important that we make our place feel familiar, relaxed and stress free; a place for all ages as a meeting place or a hang out.  We worked hard to make our  TJ Applebee's Edibles and Elixirs another great Atlanta concept. Now known as just "Applebee's", its beginning was the joint effort (like it or not) of a husband and wife team (a Mom and Pop organization) to achieve the mutual goal of success in everything we attempted. We were both equally driven, at 30 and 31 years of age, to be successful with our restaurant concept. Few people know that the first Corporate office was located in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia: in our home.  We lived and breathed our company constantly.  To be successful you must sacrifice so much of your life, missing out on family life; things that you will never have a chance to experience again.  Only you can decide if it's worth it all and just accept the consequences of your decisions.  Looking back, I wish I had continued to work for Delta Airlines and transferred out of Atlanta.  I met so many people that had already made their way in life.  So many temptations, to share a carefree life with someone a little older, mature, loving and caring; I just let them slip by; came and went,only to remain true to a high school romance.  I regret that I missed out on the life of my parents and my son.  I regret that I spent so many years in 4 walls working with numbers seven days a week.  I can easily say it was not worth all the slavery and disappointments experienced in devoting myself to something that was like a McDonald's to me.  I wasn't allowed to feel that anything I worked so hard for, was any part mine.  I wasted the best years of my life helping to make something a success and it was all unappreciated.  Money changes people. My partner became an arrogant, selfish, silent room mate.  He became jealous of many of the Franchisees that made our company grow worldwide.  He could play the game well and no one would ever know the unkind things said about them except me.  He became a person I didn't know: Not the person I fell in love with.  We argued ofter about how he treated the employees.  I filed for Divorce in 1995. I had the same Lawyer for 7 years in advance because I knew the day would come. The divorce was finalized in Dec. 1998.   At the same time Bill was sued by a female employee for discrimination and she won a substantial amount.  She deserved it.  He pulled some ridiculous moves on her regarding her work schedule while she was pregnant.   Of course I wasn't allowed to testify.

    Welcome to the history of TJ Applebee's Edibles and Elixirs. Part one begins in July 1980 when I, TJ Palmer, incorporated the name                           "TJ Applebee's Edibles and Elixirs" up until May 1983 when the concept was sold to W.R. Grace and Company. 

I am always asked what led to Applebee's concept.

Before T J Applebee's in 1980, my partner (and husband at the time), Bill Palmer and I bought into a Bar known as "Billy's". BILLY'S was a restaurant concept founded by Billy Watson, a colorful Atlantan. He was in the Atlanta news often which gave his restaurants a lot of publicity. Everyone knew of "BILLY'S" in Buckhead. This was supposed to be one of the most popular places to frequent in Atlanta.

Previously, Bill had been employed by Burger King as a Franchise District Manager. Burger King had decided that it was his time to be transferred to either California or Miami. I refused to move away from Atlanta. Obviously, Bill didn't want to move either. He became very disinterested in making money for a large corporation instead of himself.   He would come home and proclaim how much money he had made for the company and he was tired of no recognition.  (He complained so much that I finally told him I didn't think he had the balls to quit!) He finally did decide to resign.  The next thing I knew he came home driving the "Billy's" van.  He was so excited and thought this was the grandest thing that he was given the privileged to do.

After much thought, we decided to venture out on our own. We took out a home improvement loan for $20,000 from Nations Bank (known as C&S) and bought into this local restaurant.  Bill told the bank that we wanted to do an addition on the house in order to get the loan. (Yes he actually lied to the bank)

"Billy's" on Savoy Drive had the lowest sales of the three Billy's Restaurants. The owners, having recently purchased one location and leased the name "BILLY'S", agreed to sell fifty percent of this location to us. Bill put so much time and energy into improvements that within two months he had turned this location around to be the number one store of the three. He was so proud and I was proud of him. After all the work done to make this location a success, Needless to say, the owners wanted their now #1 location back. In a very unprofessional manner, they reclaimed the restaurant and returned our money with a check that of course bounced.  (Three days later we were repaid in cash. I promptly repaid the bank.) This was their approach: They came to the restaurant during Happy Hour and told him they were taking the restaurant back and he could leave. They declared the agreement null and void.  They asked him to leave.  Legally, they couldn't do this but for some reason Bill let them have the location back. He didn't even try to fight legally to keep what we had paid them, for the ownership.

Bill was very upset emotional. He was devastated, crushed. As he broke down crying, I told him that we could very easily start our own restaurant: whatever he wanted to do I was all for it.  I said I believed that the name "Billy's" didn't mean anything: why did he put so much emphasis on it? We could come up with our own name. We could find our own location and make it work. He was to the point of finding another place of employment. He was not willing to take a chance. This was not the person I married! That's why I say that if I had kept quiet, he would have never pursued opening our own place.  (NO Applebee's) I felt so sorry for him.  He needed to get a fighting spirit back.  But like a good little wife, I had to push him. Maybe he thought I wouldn't risk my property.  Even my Father was willing to risk their home but I said no.  His parents- his Father told him a flat NO when asked.  I didn't think twice about puting up my inherited property. Maybe at this point, I was slightly naive. I had no fear of doing what I had just suggested. I believed in "us".  Failure never entered my mind because I had never known failure.  As they say….What you don't know won't hurt you. I never doubted what we could accomplish together. We were both hard workers and I knew I would do whatever it took to make our venture work. We threw caution to the wind, as they say, and we took the risk.   Even though he was crushed and hurt emotionally, that didn't keep him down.  He got himself together and we went out on a search for another location.  Within 4 days we had found what would be the first location on Memorial Drive.

The Founders: While owning Billy's, Bill met with Bob McCurley and Earl Davis. These two owned a design company called Davis Designs. Their business supplied restaurant décor for Burger King and other fast food chains. Bill asked Bob and Earl to be partners with us in this restaurant venture. Their part would be to supply the decor for the first location. They also came up with the idea of an octagon shaped bar to add a slighly different aspect to the restaurant.  Bill also asked a friend of his and his wife to be partners. This was Frank and Wanda Wood. Wanda had no part in the operation.  She was an owner with Frank on their property used as collateral.  Frank was bought out after the first six months.  He was the night manager basically but he was having fun giving away too many free drinks killing our profit. Regardless… Here were the original six people who founded Applebee's: Bob McCurley, Earl Davis, Frank Wood, Wanda Wood, "TJ" Palmer, and "the last man standing", Bill Palmer.  I call him this because he was the last of the original six to be involved with Applebee's.  He eventually sold the companies that we started (Cafe Ventures, Inc., Apple Restaurants, Inc. and the management company consisting of all employees) I believe, for many reasons.  One could be when Obama became President, it became very hard for small businesses to survive.  There was so much regulation thrown in the mix with Obamacare and more taxes, it was close to impossible to make money working for yourself.   Someone must have come along and made a great offer on the company as he went on to other ventures.   We sold the first two stores because Bill had a mantra he constantly repeated…"The big guys are going to squeeze the little guys out!" He would repeat that to me daily.  Another fear of his, controlling him.

Bob and Earl had their art department come up with the logo design and type set for the Concept.  Before this could be done though, I had to reserve a name with the Georgia Secretary of State, incorporate the name, and open bank accounts.  There were a few names that I tried.  Cinnamon's was taken.  Damons was taken. Bill liked the name Appleby's but I knew there was already an Appleby's at a local Mall.   I asked the State if I changed the spelling of the name would that be possible to register? They agreed.  Bill wanted to add "TJ" in front of Applebee's.  (I don't know why.  At the first store opening someone said that it was so nice to name the place after your wife.  He replied, "No I just pulled it out of a hat.") The new company would be called "TJ APPLEBEE'S".  Actually he didn't name the Company the at all.  I did after working with the State of Georgia.  I added Edibles and Elixirs because I wanted something different: not the same ole grill and bar adjectives. (With our second location on Buford Hwy, Bill had the sign made with “Grill and Bar” which was never registered.)  So I typed out the Articles of Incorporation and sent it off in the mail. I also wrote the guidelines for the management agreement of our new company and how many shares and votes each partner would receive.  My Father held our Liquor License for us as he was the only one of us that Lived in DeKalb County- a requiement for the License. He had a vote in the company in return.   

As I was having our menu printed up and working on the cover, the owner of the print shop told me her brother was an Attorney, right across the street from where I was.  At that point, I decided to have the logo registered.  Bob and Earl had come up with the type set for the name and I had the menu cover made up.  I took them both with me to the Attorney's office and had them registered with the State as trademarks. Thinking ahead, I had the logo registered Nationally also because you never know what the future might hold. It took about seven months to have the National Registration approved.  This was the only time I used the services of an Attorney when organizing the company.  While I was working on all this, Bill was at the location installing used Equipment and throwing out the existing equipment left in the building. Or….. should I say “should have been”.  I tried to locate him before I met with the Attorney but he was nowhere to be found.  (Enter “Courtney”  the girl friend.) 

Bob and Earl had their people come in and work on the bar and tables.  (The surprise was the octagon-shaped bar.)  They were true specialists!  They put up wall paper and put in carpet.  Bob's daughter built by hand all the stained glass around the top of the bar and our stained glass theme hot air ballon logo.  I'm not really sure who came up with the hot air balloon theme, but it was beautiful and Bill loved it. It must have been Bob and Earl: they were all in to Decor. The Brass railings topped it off.  Stained glass lamps were kind of normal for the 80's.  Bill was all in to the kitchen set up.  That was his specialty with Burger King.  
I often wonder: Why would you buy a concept that was working and change it to a plain Jane?  But it happened to Applebee's in the end.
For financing on the first location, we contacted the Small Business Association. We took out a loan for $50,000.00. For collateral,  We each put up personal property and Bill put up a personal guaranty.  How this was possible I will never know because he owned nothing to use as collateral.  Absolutely nothing!   (Document shown)

I used the property that was given to me by my Mother.  It was the last acre given to my family 6 generations ago when they arrived from Ireland in the mid-1700s.  A family of four: the husband and two sons were allotted 1500 acres- 500 for each male, in the County of Gwinnett, which was Cherokee Indian territory.  By using my property, I risked my heritage as Bill risked nothing.
 

NOTE:  After we were ousted from Billy's (after Bill turned it in to a profitable location)  I suggested that we open our own place.  I told him that he had enough contacts through Burger King that if successful, we could sell locations as a franchise.  He said he wasn't a Corporate guy and he had no interest in that.  Regardless, I told him my idea of having an old drugstore theme with a wooden Indian at the door.  I could find barber poles and drugstore signs from the antique stores in Chamblee, Ga.  I could even frame pictures of the famous stars and Braves baseball players.  I mentioned hanging “things” around the bar and he said NO.  “Things… just collect dust so we aren't doing that."  That changed.  I suggested booths instead of the individual uncomforatble small chairs.  He stamped a “NO” on that too.  Years later, he thought the booths would be a much better idea, too.  We were a team.  I could always “suggest” and eventually he would agree.  We usually agreed on everything.  It was like we knew what each one of us was thinking before we said it.  Everything was working out great together until….. Until he became a “Corporate Guy”.  From the start, my job became Accounts payable, all bank accounts and deposits, Employee relations (Payroll, insurance, uniforms, Employee handbooks) and in my spare time: shopping for, buying and installing decor until we opened our 10th location.  I had no life.  We owed much to Wally Doolin.  He was one of the owner's of Billy's.  He was terminated also and went to work for WR Grace.  He referred Grace to visit our locations for a possible purchase and then Franchise the Concept.  The owners of Billy's thought they would be the chosen one but thanks to Wally,  Grace chose our Concept to move forward on.  I tried to convince Bill to Franchise our stores himself since he did know so many Burger King Francisees and spent years working with them in their stores.  He told me that it would cost too much money and he would have to write manuals before doing this. After spending years doing this very thing for Burger King, it just made no sense to me at all.  I think he was just afraid just as he was afraid to start our own restaurant.