{"id":385,"date":"2026-05-30T21:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T21:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=385"},"modified":"2026-05-30T21:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T21:41:14","slug":"ex-applebees-exec-was-told-shed-never-be-ceo-she-bought-the-chain-and-fired-her-naysayer-we-dont-need-two-of-us-so-im-gonna-have-to-let-you-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=385","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Applebee\u2019s exec was told she\u2019d never be CEO\u2014she bought the chain and fired her naysayer: \u2018We don\u2019t need two of us, so I\u2019m gonna have to let you go\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>It was 1998, and Stewart was serving as president of Applebee\u2019s after a seven-year stint as Taco Bell\u2019s national senior VP of franchise operations. The restaurant chain was struggling and needed an industry powerhouse to help turn things around. So Applebee\u2019s leader presented a game-plan to Stewart: Get the struggling company back on track, and she will have proven herself enough to take the coveted chief executive role.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=383\">After a judge ordered Trump\u2019s name be removed from the Kennedy Center, president says it will \u2018soon be closed, probably never to open again\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe then chair and CEO said, \u2018When you and the team turned this company around, we\u2019ll make you CEO.\u2019 I said, \u2018That\u2019s perfect, that\u2019s just perfect for me,\u2019\u201d Stewart revealed on <em>The Matthews Mentality Podcast<\/em> in 2025.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Over the next three years, Stewart managed to help Applebee\u2019s take back the throne of casual dining. In 1999, the company\u2019s system sales\u2014including both company and franchise restaurant sales\u2014skyrocketed 14% from  $2.35 billion. Applebee\u2019s record basic and diluted earnings per share also grew 20% in that year. Stewart said that she doubled the stock during her brief tenure, yet all of that growth wasn\u2019t enough to satisfy her boss when she sat down to talk about her promotion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything is going very well. And I said, \u2018So, I\u2019m thinking, it\u2019s about time to be CEO.\u2019 And he\u2019s very reflective. He stops for a minute, and he said, \u2018No, not ever,\u2019\u201d Stewart recalled. That was her signal to take her talents elsewhere. \u201cI think you\u2019re holding me accountable for everything, but you\u2019re not giving me the title. So I\u2019m gonna go ahead and leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The now 70-year-old serial executive then pivoted to become chair and CEO of rival casual dining chain IHOP. It gave her the perfect opportunity to grow another brand and get even. In 2007, she put a major acquisition into motion: buying her former employer, Applebee\u2019s, for around $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion. After the deal went through, she called up the company to inform them of a change in leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI called the chair and CEO of Applebee\u2019s, and I said, \u2018Just wanted to say hi.\u2019 And he said, \u2018I was expecting this call,\u2019\u201d Stewart reminisced. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018As you know, this morning, we announced that we have purchased, for 2.3 billion, the company, and we don\u2019t need two of us, so I\u2019m gonna have to let you go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Other CEOs who beat the odds and got back at their naysayers<\/h2>\n<p>Stewart is one of many business leaders who got back at their critics by achieving billion-dollar success.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=381\">After Blue Origin rocket explosion, NASA\u2019s entire moon exploration program depends on SpaceX for now as Musk eyes blockbuster IPO soon<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Today, Spanx is a shapewear empire with customers all over the world. But when its founder and former CEO, Sara Blakely, set out to get the company up and running in 1998, she faced constant rejection. Having no prior business, fashion, or retail experience to show to investors, she set out with $5,000 of her own cash to make her idea into a billion-dollar empire. But at the onset, most manufacturers weren\u2019t buying into her vision.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThey would always ask me the same three questions. They would say: \u2018And you are?\u2019 Sara Blakely. \u2018And you\u2019re with?\u2019 Sara Blakely. \u2018And you\u2019re financially backed by?\u2019, Sara Blakely,\u201d Blakely told <em>Fortune<\/em> in a 2024 interview. \u201cThey\u2019d show me the door and say \u2018No, thank you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>By trusting her gut and continuing to fight for her business idea, Blakely would grow Spanx into a $1.2 billion shapewear success. And in 2012, she also made the ultra-rich list as the youngest self-made woman billionaire that year, according to <em>Forbes<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>FedEx may be one of the most nationally recognized delivery companies in the world, shipping out around 16 million packages per day. But the idea for the billion-dollar titan of industry was initially met with skepticism. In 1965, the late FedEx founder and former CEO Frederick W. Smith first presented the basic concept for the company for an economics class assignment as undergraduate student at Yale University. But his professor couldn\u2019t see his vision working, and ultimately scored his project poorly, giving him a C.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Smith wasn\u2019t deterred by a bad grade in class; after returning from service in the Vietnam War in 1971, he would set his delivery business plan in motion. Today, FedEx boasts a market cap of $97 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=379\">AI is splitting the music world. This 49-year-old guitarist used it to keep playing after Parkinson\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on August 22, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Multimillionaire baby boomer Julia Stewart grew IHOP\u2019s business and got back at her former employer after being denied the top role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jobs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ex-Applebee\u2019s exec was told she\u2019d never be CEO\u2014she bought the chain and fired her naysayer: \u2018We don\u2019t need two of us, so I\u2019m gonna have to let you go\u2019 - 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