{"id":171615,"date":"2026-02-19T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/171615\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:28:08","slug":"how-an-affordable-1-margarita-got-its-start-in-dallas-and-where-to-get-one-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/171615\/","title":{"rendered":"How an affordable $1 margarita got its start in Dallas \u2014 and where to get one this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, an Applebee\u2019s franchisee in Dallas had a zany idea: If the company\u2019s margarita was sold for an incredible $1<\/a>, would it drive traffic?<\/p>\n

During a sleepy summer when Applebee\u2019s sales could use a jolt, that Dallas restaurateur launched the Dollarita in 68 locations in Texas in 2016. His team started getting \u201chundreds of calls a day, asking if the $1 margarita was a joke,\u201d<\/a> as Chris Dharod, a Texas franchisee, said that year.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a joke. It was a hair-brained idea that worked, against the odds. The deal was used as a tool to spike traffic \u2014 where restaurants lose money on a single $1 margarita but win if customers order other items, like dinner. (And often, they did.) Dharod was credited with dreaming up with a head-turner that made headlines. <\/p>\n

Although some franchisees outside of Texas didn\u2019t want to sell the margarita for such a low price, the Dollarita expanded its reach in the coming years. <\/p>\n

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By 2019, \u201ctens of millions\u201d of Dollaritas had been sold system-wide, Applebee\u2019s leadership reported.<\/p>\n

The promo fizzled nationwide at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But you can\u2019t keep a good discount down: The Dollarita returned in 2022<\/a> with an even bigger stunt. An Applebee\u2019s in Irving displayed \u201cthe largest margarita in Texas\u201d to visually show how \u201cbig\u201d the deal was. <\/p>\n

The mug stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed 700 pounds. <\/p>\n

Applebee\u2019s on-again, off-again caper returns once again on Feb. 22, 2026 \u2014 National Margarita Day \u2014 when Applebee\u2019s 10-ounce margarita will cost $1 at 48 Applebee\u2019s stores in Texas, including 26 in D-FW. <\/p>\n

(Not participating: Applebee\u2019s stores in Texarkana, Mount Pleasant, Marshall, Kyle, San Antonio and New Braunfels.)<\/p>\n

And will the Dollarita dance back onto Applebee\u2019s menu ever again? Nothing is planned yet. Better get one on Feb. 22 if you crave a cocktail deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years ago, an Applebee\u2019s franchisee in Dallas had a zany idea: If the company\u2019s margarita was sold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,5462,918,1623,354],"class_list":["post-171615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-drinks-cocktails","tag-economy","tag-restaurant-news","tag-restaurants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}