Business notebook: Applebee's will get makeover

Your “Neighborhood Grill & Bar” will close Sunday Aug. 12, but only to re-open a few days later looking better than ever.

The Applebee’s restaurant in Red Wing is one of 61 locations in the region that is undergoing renovations as part of a companywide initiative. Seventeen restaurants were remodeled in 2011 and 22 are on the schedule for this year.

“We plan to get all of our 61 locations in our region finished by 2014,” Applebee’s marketing coordinator Christine Finnegan said, explaining that the region covers Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

The remodel touches on everything from the booths inside the buildings to the bushes just out the front door. Exterior updates will include new lighting, awnings and landscaping, as well as stacked brick in some locations.

The interior of Applebee’s will also be unfamiliar to visitors. Although the layout of each location will remain the same, the booths, carpeting, bars and decorations are all in for some upgrades.

“We’ll make our bars much more sleek and modern looking,” Finnegan said.

Just as the current bar counters will be gone, the artifacts and pictures that used to hang on the walls in every Applebee’s restaurant will also vanish. In their place will be a lot more localized memorabilia.

“We’ll be replacing them with murals that are images from around the Red Wing area,” Finnegan explained. “We will continue to support the high schools with photos as well.”

Red Wing’s remodel will have the restaurant shut down for nearly three days as crews work around the clock to accomplish the $500,000 upgrade in a timely manner. The location will open its doors again at 5 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 15 to host a ribbon cutting ceremony and VIP event.

• Hiawatha National Bank hired Craig Nelson as its associate managing director. Nelson will serve the Hager City and Maiden Rock offices of the bank, which also has a third location in Glenwood City, Wis.

“I am very excited to join the lending team at Hiawatha National Bank,” Nelson said. “The bank is a good fit for me with great people, a strong mortgage product line and a place for me to advance my lending career.”

Nelson is a River Falls native and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

• Wieser Concrete Products Inc., of Maiden Rock, has named Jeff Tilden the vice president of the company’s cemetery products division. He will be responsible for all crypt sales and installations, and will assist in the sales of manholes and other underground products.

Tilden comes to Wieser from Frontier Construction, where he also served as a vice president.

• Charter has opened a new office at 160 Tyler Road Suite 107 in Red Wing. The business will celebrate its involvement in the Red Wing community with an open house and customer appreciation event from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 14.

The grand opening will include a ribbon cutting, food and a chance to win prizes.

Tags: red wing, news, business