IHOP
A rebranded IHOb location.
- IHOP announced on Monday it was rebranding as IHOb to promote its new line of burgers.
- The IHOb announcement threw many pancake lovers through a loop.
- However, the president of IHOP Darren Rebelez told Business Insider not to worry - pancakes "aren't going anywhere" at the chain.
IHOP's announcement on Monday that it was rebranding as IHOb sent many people into a panic.
When the chain announced that the International House of Pancakes had transformed into the International House of Burgers, many people freaked out. Could we be living in a universe where IHOP was no longer all about pancakes?
In an interview with Business Insider, IHOP president Darren Rebelez was eager to assure customers that the chain wasn't ditching pancakes.
"This was always intended to be tongue in cheek for us," Rebelez said. "But people really took it seriously."
Hollis Johnson
IHOP pancakes
Rebelez continued: "The way we look at it is, we get to have the best of both worlds. Burgers are really kind of unexpected for us, so we had to do something creative to get everyone's attention. But the pancakes aren't going anywhere."
In fact, pancakes are even a side order option for the new burgers, meaning that customers can easily get both burgers and pancakes in a single meal.
Rebelez said that IHOP rolled out the new name - which is temporary - because it wanted to do something major to grab people's attention and highlight the fact that IHOP sells items other than pancakes.
Currently, Rebelez says, breakfast food makes up about 65% to 70% of orders at the chain. In the future, Rebelez says he hopes that lunch and dinner options such as burgers will also help draw customers to IHOP.
And, as for people freaking out over the IHOb campaign, Rebelez said there is no reason to panic.
"The pancakes haven't gone anywhere...They're still there. They're on the cover of the menu," he said.
"Just because we have pancakes doesn't mean we can't do anything but pancakes. That's what we're after: Giving more people more reasons to come to IHOP more often."