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WhatsApplebee's: the premiere Applebee's-based social chat app (whatsapplebees.com)
210 points by lazerwalker on May 9, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 53 comments


Always good to finish the week with a smile, shame there are (to my knowledge) no Applebees in the UK otherwise I'd give this a try.

Also, please someone make Olive Grindr


Unlimited breadsticks

:-/


Awesome, hope it blows up. Perhaps this should be what season 2 of Silicon Valley is about.

The only thing more awesome than this is the fact that the author's last name is freaking LAZER-WALKER.


Forgot the quotes, but yes, "LAZER"-Walker.

Love the idea. Good jorb.


I love the "I LOVE ENGAGING WITH BRANDS" text in the screenshot.


Or the mention of the other similar apps T.G.I Friendster or Olive Grindr.


Applebees: "Hello we would like to buy your app. How does $3Billion sound?"

OP: "Nope. Worth much more."

1 year later... adds video support and valuation jumps to 10B.


... This is satire, right? I'm finding it harder and harder to tell these days


Joke, satire, serious? Why not all 3?


Fantastic. But, am I limited to anonymously chatting with people in the same Applebee's as me? Or can I chat with Applebee's diners across the globe?

With the current trend of unbundling [1], it seems clear that a great approach would be to start out unbundled and rebundle later. I can't tell if I'm joking or not.

Is Walmart on your roadmap?

[1] http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/06/large-tech-comp...


I'm kind of amazed it got in the app store. I would have figured there's a trademark check, but apparently not.


Get it before it's pulled...


"I like to make things that bring happiness and deeper meaning to people's lives" -- Mike Lazer-Walker


Anyone else see this hilarious Applebee's facebook 'fan'? http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/this-g...

The app may be a subtle PR campaign playing off the satire. Can't go wrong with app puns either.


Author here: the app is absolutely not a PR campaign.

However, I can't speak for http://beesmeetup.com.


I have to think that at least someone at corporate at AppleBees is thinking they should acquire this for marketing. Or that they've actually been trying to build this.


my mistake, just noticed made by you, not applebees!


This is some serious bootstrapping disruption. I hope the pivoting synergies really take off.


Now would be a good time to invest. Applebee-centric apps will be the next Google killers. Amazon should get ahead of this before it's too late.


10 years from now we'll be mourning the demise of apps that would work in more than one restaurant:)


Half-priced apps after 9, every night!


This is amazing and awesome and I've totally installed it on my phone.

I don't want to actually go to Applebees to try it out, though.


Watch this thing actually take off and become a hit. Then Applebee's sues to take over control of the app.


If you have a jailbroken iPhone, you can get some apps that spoof your location so you don't even need to go to Applebee's physically to use the app and chat with others.

LocationHolic and FakeLocation are a few of the location spoofing apps you can get on Cydia.


This is absolutely amazing, just what I was looking for. I'm not even joking.


Hahaha. I've met some great (shitty) pasta enthusiasts on Olive Grindr


I'm glad Mr. Lazer-Walker is taking on the person corporatehood that many app-makers appear to be content with these days...

It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for WhatsApplebees.


It's amazing that this app seems to have flown completely over many commenter's heads here. Sort of shows the SV bubble for what it really is.


This app has me concerned about restaurant neutrality, the government needs to protect us from these types of ideas. (Obviously joking)


What's Applebees? It's a chain of pseudo-restaurants where instead of having fresh food prepared for you (as at a real restaurant) premade food is reheated in microwaves (this isn't a joke).

I'd honestly rather eat at Denny's.


I think they're both abominable. At least Applebee's has a bar though. I'm also fortunate enough to live in an area teeming with wonderful local bars, restaurants, and cafes. So I try to avoid places like these at all costs.


applebee's and similar chains like tgif are popular with college kids because they have a full bar w/ happy hour and very cheap food. college kids aren't generally old enough to be food snobs, either.


I usually refer to Applebees as a nicer version of Mcdonalds, and Denny's as an expensive laxative.


Applebees has a full bar.


I never understood why location based chat isn't more popular. (A location based instagram would also be really neat, see photos and comments of wherever you currently are.)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Labs

That idea for location based instagram hasn't panned out when tried for some reason.


Check out http://scopit.com/, a SaaS that curates location-based Instagram feeds.


Today I learned two things: there are very few Applebee's in Los Angeles and with people like Mr Lazer-Walker in the world we're all gonna be just fine.


It's a little frustrating that I can't get anyone to pay attention to my location-based social chat app and this has 118 points. Haha.


Is this a month late April fools joke?


Facebook is so insecure next week they will buy them for half a billion dollars, just in case


Pretty sure this is just delay from their intended April 1st launch


Because of the App Store approval process??


And now I have a hankering for a tasty microwaved steak.


I don't even understand how this got on first page. I submitted a link, even i did not see it on new page after an hour :P


Reality did not changed by downvoting my comment guys.


This. I love this.


all good apart from the punch line. You should change it because when you say "But Only At Applebee's" means you are underestimating user's power.

Ignore if it's annoying.


So is this going to replace the massive amount of Spam emails restaurants send me? Or will it be in addition?


Given the quality of the food the last time I ever ate at an applebee's -- I really think they should be focusing on food, as opposed to apps.


"Not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Applebee's International, Inc., or any of its subsidaries or affiliates."


Yeah - I didn't really look at the site - took it at face value one the first glance at it, scuffawed and closed it. :)


I really don't get what is interesting about this. Do people really go to Applebee's often enough to care about this sort of thing?




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