Maybe you took it wrong. Maybe they emphasized that it was Sara Lee because it’s a brand name, as in “See? We’re not giving you generic hospitality-industry-bought-in-bulk crap, but something you recognize and might already like.” I doubt they were stupid enough to intentionally tout it as haute cuisine.
If they are referring to “you” in the aggregate–that is, all of us in America–then Applebee’s is one of our favorite restaurants. It is the largest casual dining chain in the US, by a longshot.
Anyone know what the corporate relationship is among Radisson, Applebee’s, and Sara Lee?
(I would tend to agree that, barring a fiscal connection, they simply picked the places with really high sales volumes so that they would appeal to the largest number of guests. I like Applebees. I’m not keen on Sara Lee. I’d take the coupons without grumbling and hand off ones I could not use to family.)
Being from a local bakery is no guarantee that something isn’t crap. At least if it’s a well-known name brand, you know what kind of crap to expect.
As Dave Barry once said:
Radisson is owned by Carlson Companies, which also owns…
TGI Friday’s.
Are you sure it was Applebee’s? If so, that’s a good example of a corporation whose operating units don’t talk to each other.
Anyway, Carlson is a private company and no financials are readily available so it’s all speculation. However, Sara Lee is a different company, traded on the NYSE.
I used to work for Carlson. I can almost guarantee that the OP meant Friday’s, not Applebee’s. They often get confused with one another, so I don’t blame him. Anyway, Carlson owns Radisson and Friday’s, and they use the Gold Points loyalty program (a descendant of Gold Bond Stamps) to, in theory, keep people loyal to the Carlson brands and drive business between them, e.g. encouraging guests at Radisson to eat at Friday’s.
There is no ownership relationship between Carlson and Sara Lee, however.
They’re going to pick restaurants that have locations throughout most of the United States. Not every large or medium-sized city has a Ruth’s Chris or Morton’s. If a business traveler was from a city where there are few national chain restaurants, like Buffalo, El Paso or New Orleans, those points would be worthless.
I’d say that the Radisson itself maintains culinary standards considerably above those of Applebees. For instance, the rooftop bar and restaurant with its ocean view, in the Santa Monica location, is certainly not “casual dining” on the level of an Applebees’. It’s a popular place for celebrations, dates, showing out-of-town visitors around, and so on. So it seemed a bit surprising to me that Radisson would be pushing coupons for Applebees.
On the other hand, I suppose one of the objectives of the voucher program was that the vouchers be good all over the country, so that travelers could use them back home. That would almost dictate that it be some establishment like Denny’s, Applebee’s, Red Lobster, and so on, since any better restaurants than that aren’t national chains.