NATCHEZ — The new Applebee’s Bar & Grill location near the Natchez Mall is still under construction and is expected to open Aug. 15.

Quality Restaurant Concepts, which owns the Applebee’s franchise, will begin taking applications for the restaurant’s hourly positions Monday.

Quality Restaurant Concepts Director of Operations Eddie Cook oversees the company’s operations in Mississippi.

Cook said construction on the restaurant would be finished Aug. 1.

“The shell is complete,” Cook said. “The building pops up, but when they start working on the inside, it slows down a little bit. But they’re working hard.”

While the interior of the building is constructed over the next few weeks, Cook and the location managers, which have already been hired, will conduct interviews for servers, cooks, custodians and to-go employees.

“We will call in a bunch of people that have applied and tell them all about the job and the hours, and some just get up and leave because they don’t want to work on Sundays or late nights,” Cook said.

The remainder will be interviewed and, if selected, will participate in a training session.

Those who are hired must wait several weeks before beginning work. The training process for the hourly employees will begin Aug. 6, Cook said, and the grand opening will be Aug. 15.

Cook said those who wish to apply should go to www.pleaseapplyonline.com/qrc to complete an application. Candidates will then be called for interviews at 352 John R. Junkin Drive, a temporary office set up near the site of the future restaurant.