IHOP debuts a burger with a pancake bun as the chain reignites the IHOb controversy
- IHOP debuted three new burgers on Monday, referring to the new menu items as "pancakes" in a jab at critics of the chain's 2018 IHOb campaign.
- The Big IHOP Pancake Burger actually puts a pancake on the burger, sandwiching a cheddar cheese pancake between the beef patties as a Big Mac-style bun.
- IHOP is launching the burger-pancakes with a campaign that calls attention to people who slammed the IHOb name change last year, placing critics on the "Bancake" list.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
One year after its controversial IHOb campaign, IHOP is once again putting the focus on burgers.
On Monday, the chain announced that it is adding more burgers to the menu - and that it will call these burgers "pancakes," in response to angry customers' demands that IHOP stay in its breakfast-lined lane.
Prime among these beefy "pancakes" is the Big IHOP, a burger that actually contains a pancake.
The Big IHOP Pancake sandwiches a cheddar cheese pancake between two beef patties as a Big Mac-style third bun. The burger also contains American cheese, bacon, and IHOP sauce, and it will only be available for a limited time starting on Monday.
IHOP president Darren Rebelez told Business Insider that the pancake-burger hybrid is something that the chain has been working on since before it relaunched its burger line a year ago. The key, Rebelez says, was adding the cheddar to the pancake in the center of the burger to create a more structurally sound base.
"People kept asking us, 'When are you going to have a burger with pancakes?'" Rebelez said.
In addition to the Big IHOP, the chain is debuting the Garlic Butter "Pancake," a burger with garlic butter, bacon, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo, and the Loaded Philly "Pancake," with sauteed onions and peppers, melted white cheddar cheese, and cheddar cheese sauce.
All of the burgers cost $6.99 and will be served with unlimited fries. The limited-time "pancake" burgers join IHOP's permanent burger menu, which the chain relaunched last year.
Read more: IHOP changed its name to IHOb to promote its new lineup of burgers. They're shockingly good.
IHOP is launching the new burgers with a campaign that celebrates the controversy that exploded on social media in June 2018, when it temporarily changed its name to IHOb.
The chain has rounded up people who criticized the IHOb campaign last year and added them to a "Bancake" list. These targeted IHOb critics will need to tweet something positive about the new pancake-burgers to be removed from the list and possibly get a free reward from the chain.
Despite the backlash, Rebelez says that the IHOb campaign was a massive win for the chain, with hamburger sales quadrupling following the promotion. One year after the launch, burger sales remained double what they were prior to the IHOb campaign.