The hospitality industry is full of stories of people who worked their way up to manager, owner, or founder of their own business. Kurt Pahlitzsch's story is another example of the "American Dream" that many find in the industry.
After spending six years at Bennigan's, where he rose to executive general manager, Pahlitzsch moved to the Applebee's concept in May 1995. At the time, Applebee's International had one store open on Long Island, New York. Pahlitzsch quickly proved himself there, and in November 1995, was appointed to open the second Long Island Applebee's as its general manager. By 1997, he had been promoted by Applebee's International to District Manager of the Long Island Region.
After the Long Island Region was sold to Doherty Enterprises, Pahlitzsch came on board and continued his upward trajectory. Today, he serves as the vice president of Casual Dining for Doherty’s Enterprises, which owns 80 Applebee’s locations. At the 2024 Applebee’s Franchise Conference, Pahlitzsch was chosen as the Beverage Champion, which is awarded for leading efforts in creating exceptional beverage programs.
We spoke with Pahlitzsch about beverage programs and trends and how things have changed over the last 30 years.
You just won Beverage Champion at Applebee’s National Franchise Awards. How do you keep your beverage programs fresh and exciting for guests?
Kurt Pahlitzsch: I’m very fortunate to work with a great operations and marketing team that analyzes our product mix to identify high-velocity items, compares them to previous trends, tracks national trends, and collaborates with suppliers to confirm upcoming new flavors for next year. We then have a couple of weeks of ideation meetings to determine and set the plan.
I think the most important piece is not being afraid to fail, take a risk, and then of course correct quickly. We realized too much change isn’t good for a heavy regular clientele, but they do like to venture off their normal patterns. When we have an idea that is of high risk, we will test it on our tri-side tabletop menu for six weeks and measure how many were sold per 500 guests.
What beverage trends have been resonating with guests at Applebee’s, and how do you adapt to them?
We have realized that our guests love more experience-driven beverages that utilize a great liquor and interesting presentation. Certain flavors sell well based upon seasonality, and if it can become part of their social media experience, that’s the home run.
A great example of this is the success of our bucket program that is featured on our drink menu. I will never forget working with my great friend named Ivica from Bacardi, when he pulls out his phone, and we realized videos that our guests have made of their own experience had reached over a billion views on social media. We couldn’t have paid for that kind of advertising and were then stressed in sourcing enough buckets to meet demand.
What do you predict will be trending on chain beverage menus in 2025?
I wish I knew that answer, but we’ve drawn our line in the sand on where we believe it’s going to fall and will have some great new ideation hitting our next drink menu that releases on the 24th of February. A new bucket flavor, our margarita flight of multiple flavors for a great value, some special mocktail experiences, a unique spin on Red Bull, and a new spin on some historical drinks that seem to be coming back on trend.
How do you balance innovation with consistency when developing beverage offerings across multiple locations?
It really comes down to the skill set of your team behind the rail. We have some busy locations, consistency is key, and we have a great training team to roll out the changes. You need to carefully evaluate how many new drinks, and we will make two menu changes a year to spread out the work and factor in seasonality.
You’ve worked your way up the ladder at Applebee’s since 1995. In that time, how have beverage programs at chain restaurants changed?
It’s amazing how the guests have gone through changes of simplicity in beverage, from being motivated by frozen drinks, to sweet and colorful, how name brands have played a role, complexity and bold flavors, then the age of a celebrity-endorsed liquor, mixology, unusual vessel, etc. It’s so interesting to see what motivates people’s habits.
Stay true to your sales mix information is my advice to people doing my job - don’t focus on what you like or want to will upon your guest. Talk to your servers and bartenders and ask them what your guest is asking for and make them part of your ideation.
What is your vision for the future of beverage programs within Doherty Enterprises’ Applebee’s franchises?
To keep having fun with it; laughing about what the heck were we thinking about putting that drink on, putting the shoulders back on the ideas that end up on the national menu and telling the team how proud they should feel, and working with the suppliers to experiment for the future. Relationships with everyone is the key and staying true to the people side of the business. We dedicate a tremendous amount of time to it, but I believe we know our markets better than any of our competitors and that allows us to continue a strong business.
Are you registered for our Crave and Crave on the Menu newsletters? Sign up today!
Plan to Attend or Participate in Our Events:
- 2025 Bar & Restaurant Expo, March 24-26, 2025, Las Vegas, Nevada. Register Now!
- 2025 Bar & Restaurant Expo Denver, October 26-28, 2025, Denver, Colorado
To learn about the latest trends, issues and hot topics, and to experience and taste the best products within the bar, restaurant and hospitality industry, plan to attend Bar & Restaurant Expo 2025 in Las Vegas. Visit BarandRestaurantExpo.com.
To book your sponsorship or exhibit space at our events, fill out our form.
Also, be sure to follow Bar & Restaurant on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest industry news and trends.