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Today, we're going to take a look at some surprising facts about our favorite chain restaurants
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When Edna Morris was CEO of Red Lobster in the early 2000s
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customers could walk into the restaurant to feast on an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet
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for the low, low price of $14.99. Morris added unlimited snow crab to the buffet list in 2003
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Snow crabs are imported, and government regulations ensure that the species is not over-harvested
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The massive amounts of crab feet the chain purchased drove up market prices for the crustacean
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Customers were happy, but Wall Street was not, and stock in Red Lobster dropped more than $405 million in value in just one week after the offer took place
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Morris lost her job as the restaurant's books turned redder than the lobster on the sign
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Waffle House's dedication to being open through pretty much any kind of weather condition
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has actually led to the creation of an unofficial meteorological indicator called the Waffle House Index
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According to AccuWeather, potential customers and local storm preppers can determine the weather's severity by how many Waffle Houses remain open
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Olive Garden sends its chefs and managers to a prestigious-sounding cooking school called the Culinary Institute of Tuscany
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The property runs as a bed and breakfast during tourist season, but it's only open for Olive Garden guests over the winter
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It boasts guest rooms, a restaurant, a pool, and a winery. Once the managerial staff arrive, they use the restaurant as a makeshift cooking school
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Once the class is over the Olive Garden staff is free to explore Tuscany So is it real or just a gimmick No matter which of the Cheesecake Factory 209 locations you visit across 41 states and territories you guaranteed
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two things. A menu the size of a school directory and a slice of decadent cheesecake made in only
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one of two locations. That's right, every cake sold by the Cheesecake Factory is brought in from
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off-site from one of two industrial bakeries that produce all that indulgence. One in Calabasas
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Hills, California, and one in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. TGI Friday started out as one of the
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hottest singles bars in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Before perfume salesman Alan Stillman opened
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the bar in 1965, most neighborhood bars were centered around male clientele. Still, the upcoming
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Manhattan neighborhood was a hotbed for single women as the airline industry blossomed and opened
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up job opportunities for flight attendants. Stillman recognized the chance to capitalize on
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the new market and opened Thank God It's Friday, designed to make young women feel comfortable in
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a bar's social setting. As the 1970s and 80s ushered in a decline of the singles bar concept
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the Friday's leadership rebranded the place as a family-friendly chain restaurant to keep the
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business running. In 2004, Ad Age named Chili's Baby Back Ribs jingle the song most likely to be
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stuck in your head. Ironically, despite the Diddy's instant popularity, it was actually a last-ditch
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attempt by Guy Bomarito to save his ad agency. The memorable tune only took Bomarito five minutes
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to write, and he later admitted he had never even eaten Chili's baby back ribs. Good luck
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getting it out of your head, though. I love my baby, baby, baby back ribs
