IHOP introduced a biscuit menu nationwide on Monday featuring sweet and savory options available all day.
It is part of a yearslong strategy to evolve the chain's core menu. Remember 2018 when the chain playfully changed its name to IHOb to promote its new line of Ultimate Steakburgers? The buzzworthy campaign quadrupled its burger sales.
Well, this time around, it's not changing its name. But it is going out on a limb with biscuits, entering a food category with some fierce competitors, such as Chick-fil-A, Cracker Barrel, and Hardee's.
"Biscuits are not just a beloved item for breakfast but also for lunch or dinner," the company told Insider. "Biscuits meet guests' cravings, any time of day, and they bridge the gap between dayparts."
The chain, owned by Dine Brands, the parent company of Applebee's, could use the traffic bump.
It has struggled with comparable store sales, a key financial metric, and has underperformed compared with competitors including Denny's and Cracker Barrel.
The chain's new biscuit lineup includes a breakfast biscuit sandwich, a chicken biscuit sandwich, a strawberries-and cream biscuit, and biscuits and gravy. The biscuits are sold as combo plates or a la carte.
Kieran Donahue, the chain's chief marketing officer, said in a statement that adding biscuits was part of the chain's goal to offer diners "craveable and flavorful" items any time of day.
So I set out to see whether they were craveable during a Monday visit, the first day of the national launch. I'm a bit of a biscuit snob, having tried some of the best biscuits in the US, including the biscuits at Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee, and the tiny biscuits at Callie's Hot Little Biscuit in Charleston, South Carolina. I even went behind the scenes at Carl's Jr. years ago to learn how it made its scratch biscuits.
So I think I can spot a good biscuit.
Here's what I discovered.