Dine Brands hopes to boost sales this year with a wider swath of value meals and buzzier advertising after a rough 2024 for Applebee’s and IHOP.

“We had a soft year in 2024, which disappoints us, but we’re focused on improving that in 2025,” Dine Brands CEO John Peyton told CNBC. “We’ve got to have compelling messages and compelling promotions and compelling reasons to drive traffic into the restaurants.”

Dine on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter U.S. same-store sales dropped 4.7% at Applebee’s and 2.8% at IHOP, ending the year with four straight quarters of domestic same-store sales declines for its two flagship brands. Shares of Dine have fallen 50% over the last 12 months, dragging its market cap down to $386 million.

The company’s down year followed three years of strong growth for the company, driven by pent-up demand as diners returned to IHOP and Applebee’s after the pandemic. But like many restaurant companies, Dine saw a pullback last year from customers who make less than $75,000. After several years paying higher prices for groceries, rent, gas and other necessities, consumers opted to stay home to cook their meals or visit other chains that offered better deals or flashy promotions.

The slowdown in restaurant spending led a slew of casual-dining restaurant chains to file for bankruptcy over the last 12 months. Familiar names like Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s sought bankruptcy protection to reorganize their struggling businesses and offload their worst-performing restaurants. Most recently, On the Border filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday.

Applebee’s promotions have failed to cut through much of the noise from the so-called value wars that have ignited across the restaurant industry, at chains from McDonald’s to Bloomin’ Brands’ Outback Steakhouse. Even a triad of recent pop-culture moments last year couldn’t boost its profile: a pivotal cameo in the tennis drama film “Challengers,” an Applebee’s-motivated meltdown on “Survivor” and a shoutout from football legend Peyton Manning during Netflix’s roast of his former rival Tom Brady.

“You’ve got most of the restaurant companies are advertising value, and they’re advertising full meal deals, and so it’s harder to break through with a message when there are so many similar messages out there,” Dine’s Peyton said.

But it’s not impossible to break out from the pack. Chili’s, which is owned by Brinker International, won over diners with its viral Triple Dipper and $10.99 burger combo after spending months turning around its business.

In its most recent quarter, Brinker reported same-store sales growth of 27.4%. Thanks to its dramatic comeback, the company has become the rare casual-dining darling of investors. Brinker’s stock has soared over the last year, nearly tripling its value in the same period and raising its market cap to $6.29 billion.

For now, the star of Applebee’s value promotions, the two for $25 deal, routinely accounts for roughly a fifth of the chain’s tickets, according to Peyton. But Applebee’s is looking to add to its value offerings later this spring or in the early summer with options that appeal to larger groups or to customers who don’t want to order with their dining partner.

Dine is also trying to improve its social media presence.

“At both IHOP and Applebee’s, we know we need to do better there. We know we need to be more relevant. We know that we have to be part of the conversation and the culture,” Peyton said.

A new president for Applebee’s could help with that goal.

Peyton is currently pulling double duty serving as interim president for the chain after Tony Moralejo stepped down effective Tuesday. Peyton said the company is looking for a replacement “with a great marketing background” who understands how to connect with younger customers, on top of being a great leader with an understanding of franchising and some restaurant experience. (Yum Brands’ Lawrence Kim joined Dine as IHOP’s president in early January, succeeding Jay Johns.)

Looking to 2025, Dine is trying to communicate better with its customers and use its menu innovation to attract younger diners, according to Peyton.

But Dine’s confidence in its ability to attract customers seems shaky. For 2025, the company is projecting Applebee’s same-store sales to range between a 2% decline and a 1% increase and IHOP’s same-store sales to range between a 1% decrease and a 2% gain.

Struggling drugstore chain Walgreens is going private. 

The company on Thursday said it inked a deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners that will take it off the public market for an equity value of around $10 billion.

Sycamore will pay $11.45 per share in cash for Walgreens. Shareholders could also receive up to $3 more per share in the future from sales of Walgreens’ primary-care businesses, including Village Medical, Summit Health and CityMD. Walgreens said the total value of the transaction would be up to $23.7 billion when including debt and possible payouts down the line.

Walgreens and Sycamore expect to close the take-private deal in the fourth quarter of this year. Shares of Walgreens jumped more than 5% in after-hours trading on Thursday before being halted.

The historic deal ends Walgreens’ tumultuous run as a public company, which began in 1927. As of Thursday morning, shares of the company were up more than 15% for 2025, but the stock was still down more than 48% for the last year and had fallen 70% for the past three years. 

“While we are making progress against our ambitious turnaround strategy, meaningful value creation will take time, focus and change that is better managed as a private company,” Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth, who stepped into the role in 2023, said in a release on Thursday. “Sycamore will provide us with the expertise and experience of a partner with a strong track record of successful retail turnarounds.

Stefan Kaluzny, Sycamore’s managing director, said in the release the transaction reflects the firm’s confidence in Walgreens’ “pharmacy-led model and essential role in driving better outcomes for patients, customers and communities.”

Walgreens will maintain its headquarters in Chicago. The company currently has more than 310,000 employees globally and 12,500 retail pharmacy locations across the U.S., Europe and Latin America, according to the release. Walgreens still plans to release its second-quarter earnings on April 8.

Walgreens’s market value reached a peak of more than $100 billion in 2015 as investors gained confidence in its health-care business and expansion plans, making it one of the most prominent American retail companies. 

But the company’s market cap shrank to under $8 billion in late 2024 due to competition from its main rival CVS, grocery chains, big-box retailers and Amazon, along with a slew of challenges. Walgreens has been squeezed by the transition out of the Covid pandemic, pharmacy reimbursement headwinds, softer consumer spending and a troubled push into health care.

Both Walgreens and CVS have pivoted from years of store expansions to shuttering hundreds of retail pharmacy locations across the U.S. to shore up profits. But unlike CVS, which has diversified its business model by offering insurance and pharmacy benefits, Walgreens largely doubled down on its now-flailing retail pharmacy business. 

In October, Walgreens said it plans to close roughly 1,200 of its drugstores over the next three years, including 500 in fiscal 2025 alone. Walgreens has around 8,700 locations in the U.S., a quarter of which it says are unprofitable. The company has also scaled back its push into primary care by cutting its stake in provider VillageMD. 

Walgreens tapped health-care industry veteran Tim Wentworth as its new CEO in late 2023 to help regain its footing. 

The company has reportedly been seen as a potential private equity target in the past. 

In 2019, private equity firm KKR made a roughly $70 billion buyout offer to Walgreens, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported at the time.