Fresh on the menu at local Applebee’s locations: a new owner.
Charleston-based Whit-Mart Inc. has sold its 13 South Carolina casual- dining restaurants to a large North Carolina-based franchisee. The deal closed last week. Terms were not disclosed.
Gary Whitman of Whit-Mart said he decided to focus his attention on growing his company’s 12-unit Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar franchise in and around Louisville, Ky., a 28-county territory that spills over into southern Indiana.
“There are some development opportunities here in South Carolina, but it’s nowhere near what’s available in the Louisville area,” Whitman said last week.
He will continue to run Whit-Mart from the Charleston area, where he still owns Water’s Edge, an upscale restaurant on Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant. More.