KENTUCKY COMPANY BUYS SIX APPLEBEE'S FROM CAPE MAN

Thomas & King of Lexington, Ky., has purchased six Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants, including the one in Cape Girardeau.

The restaurants, purchased from Dennis Stockard of Cape Girardeau, included locations here, Paducah and Owensboro, Ky., Carbondale, Ill., and Evansville and Terre Haute in Indiana.

Thomas & King is the largest privately held franchisee of Applebee's, with 48 restaurants.

Applebee's has about 900 restaurants nationwide.

Stockard, a restaurateur from Cape Girardeau, previously owned Shoney's, El Chico's and Royal N'Orleans restaurants in Cape Girardeau. He maintains an interest in two Cape restaurants, Broussard's Cajun Cuisine and Captain D's.