IHOP
IHOP Restaurants LLC (US: /ˈaɪ.hɒp/ EYE-hop; acronym for International House of Pancakes) is an American multinational pancake house restaurant chain that specializes in American breakfast foods. It is owned by Dine Brands—a company formed after IHOP's purchase of Applebee's, with 99% of the restaurants run by independent franchisees.
For the parent company of the brand, see Dine Brands. For other uses, see IHOP (disambiguation).IHOP
Jerry Lapin, Al Lapin Jr. and Albert Kallis
Glendale, California, U.S.
1,841 (December 31, 2022)[2]
- Breakfast foods
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Sandwiches
US$72.8 million (2006[4])
US$141.1 million (2006[4])
32,300 (2007[4])
Dine Brands
(1976–present)
While IHOP's focus is on breakfast foods, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items. The company has 1,841 locations in the Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala), the Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar) and the South Asian Subcontinent (India and Pakistan), including 161 that are owned by area licensees and 1,680 that are franchised.[2][3] While many of its locations are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the chain's minimum operating hours are 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.[5]
Locations[edit]
The company has 1,841 locations in the Americas, the Middle East, and South Asia.[2][3]
Franchising agreements with M.H. Alshaya, an international restaurant-franchising firm, resulted in an agreement for Alshaya to open as many as forty IHOP locations in the Middle East, beginning in 2012. By the end of 2018, IHOP restaurants operated in six Middle Eastern countries: Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.[18] In 2016, IHOP expanded into Central America, opening in Panama,[19] and later in 2019 into South America, opening three locations in Ecuador[20] and one location in Peru.[21]
IHOP Express' first location opened in 2011; they are a quick service version of the chain offered at locations such as airports,[22] school campuses,[23] military food courts[24] and travel centers.[25] The first standalone public location of the concept opened in downtown San Diego in 2011.[23]
In 2019, IHOP announced plans to open a fast-casual restaurant, Flip'd by IHOP. Flip'd would include a menu serving pancake bowls, burgers, and fried chicken.[26]
In March 2024, Dine Brands announced it was exploring Applebee’s-IHOP dual-branded restaurants within 12-24 months, following the successful introduction of prototypes in international markets.[27][28]
Marketing[edit]
In June 2015, IHOP introduced an updated logo, removing its decorative elements and adding a curved line under the "O" and "P" letters to resemble a smiley face. The company said that the previous logo looked too much like a frown.[29][30]
In June 2018, an IHOP marketing campaign announced they would "flip" their name to "IHOb"; it was ultimately revealed to be a marketing campaign for its hamburgers, in an effort to address perceptions that IHOP was still primarily oriented towards breakfast food. The tease of the campaign led to speculation via social media regarding the intent of the change.[31] IHOP parodied the campaign the following year to promote a new hamburger that includes a pancake as an ingredient, jokingly stating that they would refer to their burgers as "pancakes" because people wanted IHOP to "stick to pancakes".[32][33]
Lawsuit[edit]
In early September 2010, IHOP filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against International House of Prayer and six other defendants alleging trademark dilution and infringement.[34][35] The lawsuit was dropped on December 21, 2010, with the dispute resolved out of court.[36]
