Hi all,

It has been a while since I last posted. But I have a question.

I just wrote the sentence below in a HG post.

Applebees has 1600 restaurants and they are targeting 3000 according to their last annual report. I think that BWLD could create as many restaurants as Applebees. Applebees is similar size, has a bar, casual dining, and a few televisions. They don't stress the sports bar thing as much as BWLD, but the comparison is pretty good. Applebees stores still average higher than BWLD but BWLD is closing that gab.

Besides my usual mistakes. I have a really serious question.

Applebees is a plural entity, so usually you would use have. Even when writing about them later in the sentence, I used they as a substitute for Applebees.

So, in the above sentence, I feel compelled to use Applebees have and Applebees are, but it sounds so horrible. What is the rule when speaking of restaurants and companies. Are they considered singular subjects or plural?

It may sound horrible to me because I used it that way my entire life. So, if have sounds good to you, I would like to know that too.

tom