---
title: "Business Insider: 3 a.m. bankruptcy filings, unpaid millions, and IHOb burgers: Inside the $23 million battle raging within Applebee's"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/e1093acd-f2e8-4eb5-b97f-613eb9cd9ed3
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/business-insider-3-am-bankruptcy-filings-unpaid-millions-and-ihob-burgers-inside-the-23-million-battle-raging-within-applebees-2707516
category: "Casual dining"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Casual dining"
topics: ["Finance & M&A"]
published: 2018-08-15T21:16:36.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:34:09.765Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/fc52c91c20b92d7cb0cd80d9d73601048993.jpg
---

# Business Insider: 3 a.m. bankruptcy filings, unpaid millions, and IHOb burgers: Inside the $23 million battle raging within Applebee's

**TL;DR:** Dine Brands, the parent company of Applebee's, is involved in a lawsuit with RMH Holdings, the second-largest Applebee's franchisee, over unpaid royalties and fees. RMH Holdings claims Dine Brands made ill-advised decisions, including requiring costly wood-fired grills.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-08-15. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/business-insider-3-am-bankruptcy-filings-unpaid-millions-and-ihob-burgers-inside-the-23-million-battle-raging-within-applebees-2707516).*

## Story

Dine Brands and RMH Holdings are involved in a very complicated lawsuit that appears to consist of a lot of finger-pointing, according to a Business Insider report.

Dine Brands is the parent company of Applebee’s, a casual dining restaurant chain, and RMH Holdings is the second-largest Applebee’s franchisee.

Dine Brands claimed in a lawsuit that RMH Holdings owes them more than $23 million in unpaid royalties and fees. RMH Holdings addressed this in a court filing and said they refused to pay because Dine Brands made decisions that were “ill-advised and value-destroying,” Business Insider reported.

According to RMH, this mismanagement on the part of Dine Brands included requiring Applebee’s locations to install costly wood-fired grills.

Earlier this year, RMH Holdings filed for bankruptcy after a phone call with Dine Brands in which Dine Brands demanded the franchisee pay $12 million by the end of the day or face having a number of their stores shut down.

“They thought they could keep doing what they were doing for a longer period of time,” Dine Brands CEO Steve Joyce told Business Insider in an interview earlier this month. “But they were doing it for a long time.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Applebee's (company)
- Dine Brands (company)
- lawsuit (topic)
- unpaid royalties (topic)
- franchisee dispute (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/business-insider-3-am-bankruptcy-filings-unpaid-millions-and-ihob-burgers-inside-the-23-million-battle-raging-within-applebees-2707516). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/e1093acd-f2e8-4eb5-b97f-613eb9cd9ed3).