Since announcing a major name change from IHOP to IHOb, the pancake chain has been drumming up lots of speculation over what the “B” stands for, with many assuming it would be “breakfast" or "brunch."
Wrong.
On Monday, IHOb President Darren Rebelez made the big reveal: the name now means International House of Burgers.
“Burgers so burgerin’ good, we changed our name to IHOb. For burgers,” the company’s Twitter bio now reads.
It’s official! #IHOp is now @IHOb and the “b” is for #burgers What do you think? (full disclosure: the burger was delicious) pancakes will still be on the menu too! @foxandfriends pic.twitter.com/Q4sUR6g8TL
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) June 11, 2018
Forbes lays out some reasons for why the company is making a drastic departure from its pancake identity.
IHOP (a subsidiary of Dine Brand Global along with its sister company Applebee’s) faces real challenges:
- It’s one of the least trendy of the old-guard brands your mother grew up with.
- Pancakes with syrup and sweet toppings are pretty much a 180-degree turn from where the modern Western diet is headed.
- Sales from 2015-2017 were flatter than, well, you know what, and Dine Brand execs were already in war-room mode over how to position their chains for the future.
"We're always going to have pancakes on the menu," Rebelez said on Fox News's "Fox & Friends," "but America loves burgers and America loves IHOP and we thought this was a fantastic combination to bring America's burgers to an iconic brand like IHOP."
‘B’IG REVEAL: The answer we’ve all been waiting for...the ‘b’ in @IHOb is for BURGERS! pic.twitter.com/viIWYDfurQ
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 11, 2018