If you thought Applebee’s was just a tame family-style chain restaurant wait until you find out about its hidden past as a late-night party destination. “Bee’s Late Night” was a campaign started by the chain in the early 2010s which actually got the brand in some hot water when it was found that some franchisees weren’t playing family value friendly.
Now, TikToker Lyss Lyss (@alyssacardib) has brought the family restaurant seamy pasty back to light in a viral video posted yesterday that has already racked up 697,100 views and counting.
@alyssacardib Replying to @April Dotson345 ♬ original sound – Lyss Lyss
Lyss already went viral this week, gaining over a million views for her retelling of a shocking (and pretty gross) story about an incident at a Kellogg’s packaging plant. Now she’s back to tell her viewers about Applebee’s steamy past.
Lyss recounts how, when trying to get a larger share of the youth market, Applebee’s execs “came up with the brilliant idea of making Applebee’s a night club after like 10 PM.”
“They spend so much money, they do this whole campaign and sure enough, the young people did not come,” she says.
“No one was hanging out with their friends and being like ‘Yo, let’s hit up the Bee’s tonight’” she continues ” They spent so much money on this campaign to not even get the young people that they wanted.”
Despite Lyss’s claims that the concept was a disaster, “Bee’s Late Night” did end up becoming popular in several areas of the country, especially Florida. The concept briefly made headlines when a series of steamy photos were released featuring partiers at an Applebee’s franchise located in Central Florida.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lyss via TikTok for further comment
Some of Lyss’ viewers actually remember going to the “club” back in the day.
“I’m 32 and when I was 21 we absolutely did go to Applebees after 10 and got $2 drinks and half off appetizers and we 100% did call it the bees,” Jacqueline Gonzalez (@jacquelinee947) commented.
“Found this out by pulling up to an Applebees to eat & ppl were dancing barefoot on the tables instead,” another viewer wrote.
One former employee claimed, “I worked at bees yrs ago we did karaoke til 3 am it was miserable.”
One viewer admitted, “i definitely got so drunk at applebees karaoke and $1 beer night i was banned from my local bees.”
And while “Club Bees” appears to no longer be around, many commenters said they would be here for a relaunch.
“Damnit now that I’m 30 I would have loved THAT club,” Acrafttt (@acrafttt) wrote.
“They were just ahead of their time. I would totally go to the bees after dark,” another commenter added.
It remains to be seen if the chain will ever relaunch the concept. the Daily Dot has reached out to Applebee’s via email for a statement.
