IHOP is now IHOb

[mirth]

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/11/618844977/ihop-becomes-ihob-the-international-house-of-burgers

"Dear Internet, we abbreciate your batience," the company said on Monday.

Picking up on the company's tricks, when one Twitter user said on Monday, "Your marketing team needs to be fired...ASAP," another simply replied, "ASAB."

:DD

[bayonetbrant]

hahahaha - that's awesome.


now we wait to see what the Wendy's twitter folks do with this

[JasonPratt]

I saw them rolling out their new burgers on either Fox or CNN this morning (can't recall which, I wasn't really awake at the time).

The burgers did look decent anyway. Quite Five Guys-ian.

The marketing side of my brain says this whiffs of desperation, though. It substantially fails the rules of (market) "positioning". They should have first promoted their burger line for a year or two in-store, and built up positioning among their established fanbase, perhaps picked up new fans by associative word of mouth.

THEN, if success was significant, change the brand -- on which they already had good position, not incidentally.

I can be sure this didn't happen, though, or it wouldn't have taken everyone by surprise. International House of Breakfast (more than pancakes) makes sense and builds on the established position. International House of Burgers is "wha, wait am I really awake yet or is this another stupid dream?!"  ??? ??? ???

I mean, I don't want them to fail, not least because I like IHOP (and they've said they aren't going to change their menu, just add to it). Maybe they were already in a death slide (for whatever reasons) and this is their last-minute Hail Mary. I hope it works for their sake.  <:-)

[bobarossa]

DineEquity is IHOP parent organization (also owns Applebees).  1st half 2017 results:
Second Quarter 2017 Summary
-- GAAP EPS of $1.18
-- Adjusted EPS (Non-GAAP) of $1.30
-- Domestic system-wide comparable same-restaurant sales declined 2.6% at IHOP and declined 6.2% at Applebee's
First Six Months of Fiscal 2017 Summary
-- GAAP EPS of $1.98
-- Adjusted EPS (Non-GAAP) of $2.51
-- Domestic system-wide comparable same-restaurant sales declined 2.1% at IHOP and declined 7.0% at Applebee's
-- Generated cash from operating activities of approximately $20.9 million and adjusted free cash flow (Non-GAAP) of approximately $19.2 million

Does sound very risky to roll out burgers and change name before finding out if anyone bites.

[BanzaiCat]

Huh. I just thought this was a stupid Internet joke.

[trailrunner]

My wife and I actually went to IHOP last night.  I guess we can say that we were there on IHOP's last night.  Maybe I should have saved my placemat as a collector's item.

[mirth]

now we wait to see what the Wendy's twitter folks do with this

wait no longer

https://twitter.com/Wendys/status/1006198612349673473

[mirth]

[em2nought]

If all else fails, they can later become "IHO BGYN"  :DD

[JasonPratt]

I'm disappointed at Wendy's response.  #:-) Since IHOP isn't giving up on pancakes, the joke is a total miss.

Also, those burgers looked pretty dang legit.

A better joke would be something like "Deciding to level up on where we've been for 50 years? Good luck!"

[BanzaiCat]

Guess I haven't been to IHOP in a while...but I thought they had sandwiches and burgers on their menu already. Guess not.

[bbmike]

I think Waffle House does but I've never been in there sober.  :-"

[Gusington]

I have been to exactly one Waffle House and they refused to serve me.

IHOP has always had burgers. Not sure why they are deciding to highlight them now with so much competition...almost seems like a New Coke move.

[bbmike]

I have been to exactly one Waffle House and they refused to serve me.
...

That's because Waffle House is always sober.

[Gusington]

Is it good?