IHOP

IHOP Restaurants LLC (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. 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), South Asia (India and Pakistan), and Southeast Asia (Philippines), including 161 that are owned by area licensees and 1,680 that are franchised.[2][6] 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.[7]

History

Jerry Lapin, Al Lapin, and Albert Kallis founded International House of Pancakes in the Los Angeles, California, area in 1958 with the help of Sherwood Rosenberg and William Kaye. The first restaurant opened on July 16, 1958, at 4301 W. Riverside Drive in Burbank, California.[1] The second and third locations at 8555 Vesper Avenue in Panorama City, California, and 3625 Stocker Avenue in Baldwin Hills, California, (a former Brown Derby restaurant) are still open for business.[8][9]

The first prototype design for IHOP building was a steep-roofed A-frame building with a distinctive blue roof; the last such location to be built was completed in 1979. While most IHOP locations no longer use the A-frame buildings, several still exist around the U.S.[1]In 1973, the chain's name was shortened to "IHOP" for marketing purposes,[10] using a cartoon kangaroo in its commercials at the time, and since then the full name and acronym have been officially interchangeable.

In 1976, International Industries was renamed to IHOP, Inc., and IHOP Corporation was founded as a new holding firm for IHOP, Love's Wood Pit Barbecue, and Original House of Pies (which was sold shortly afterwards).[1] In 1979, it was purchased by Wienerwald Holding, the owners of Wienerwald and Lum's chains.[1] Wienerwald later declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982, and sold IHOP Corp in 1983 to SVIDO, who hadn't been involved in the restaurant business previously.

The breakfast food menu later expanded (especially in the 1980s) to include standard lunch and dinner items found in similar restaurant chains such as Sambo's and Denny's. In 1976, at the same time as reorganization, International Industries became IHOP.[1] In December 2019, IHOP announced plans to launch a chain of fast casual breakfast restaurants called Flip'd.[11]

Menu

While IHOP's focus is on breakfast, serving pancakes, waffles, French toast, and omelettes, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items such as sandwiches, burgers, and salads.[17] Some IHOP locations also feature coffee bars, where guests can order espresso drinks.[18]

Locations

The company has 1,841 locations in the Americas, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia.[2][6] 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.[19] In 2016, IHOP expanded into Central America, opening in Panama,[20] and later in 2019 into South America, opening three locations in Ecuador[21] and one location in Peru.[22]

IHOP Express' first location opened in 2011; they are a quick service version of the chain offered at locations such as airports,[23] school campuses,[24] military food courts[25] and travel centers.[26] The first standalone public location of the concept opened in downtown San Diego in 2011.[24]

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.[27]

A franchisee opened a hybrid Applebee's/IHOP restaurant in downtown Detroit in mid-2018.[28][29] 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.[30][31]

Marketing

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.[32][33]

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.[34][35][36] 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".[37][38]

In November 2025, IHOP leadership revealed plans to franchisees to offer Kids Eat Free in December. This was met with a response of revolt from franchise operators, due to the fact they were not consulted beforehand, there was no opt-out option, and the costs that they would inccur from the free food offer. Operators have expressed concerns that they would not be compensated fairly and the promotion was not a marketing decision, but a leadership decision.[39]

Lawsuit

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.[40][41] The lawsuit was dropped on December 21, 2010, with the dispute resolved out of court.[42]

See also

• Denny's
• Golden Nugget Pancake House
• List of pancake houses
• The Original Pancake House
• Pancake house
• Waffle House
• Walker Bros.

External links