IHOP

IHOP Restaurants LLC (US: /ˈaɪ.hɒp/ EYE-hop; acronym for International House of Pancakes) is an American multinational pancake house restaurant chain that specializes in American breakfast foods. It is owned by Dine Brands—a company formed after IHOP's purchase of Applebee's, with 99% of the restaurants run by independent franchisees.

While IHOP's focus is on breakfast foods, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items. The company has 1,841 locations in the Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala), the Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar), South Asia (India and Pakistan), and Southeast Asia (Philippines), including 161 that are owned by area licensees and 1,680 that are franchised. While many of its locations are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the chain's minimum operating hours are 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Jerry Lapin, Al Lapin, and Albert Kallis founded International House of Pancakes in the Los Angeles, California, area in 1958 with the help of Sherwood Rosenberg and William Kaye. The first restaurant opened on July 16, 1958, at 4301 W. Riverside Drive in Burbank, California. The second and third locations at 8555 Vesper Avenue in Panorama City, California, and 3625 Stocker Avenue in Baldwin Hills, California, (a former Brown Derby restaurant) are still open for business.

The first prototype design for IHOP building was a steep-roofed A-frame building with a distinctive blue roof; the last such location to be built was completed in 1979. While most IHOP locations no longer use the A-frame buildings, several still exist around the U.S.

In 1973, the chain's name was shortened to "IHOP" for marketing purposes, using a cartoon kangaroo in its commercials at the time, and since then the full name and acronym have been officially interchangeable.^{[citation needed]}

In 1976, International Industries was renamed to IHOP, Inc., and IHOP Corporation was founded as a new holding firm for IHOP, Love's Wood Pit Barbecue, and Original House of Pies (which was sold shortly afterwards). In 1979, it was purchased by Wienerwald Holding, the owners of Wienerwald and Lum's chains. Wienerwald later declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982, and sold IHOP Corp in 1983 to SVIDO, who hadn't been involved in the restaurant business previously.

The breakfast food menu later expanded (especially in the 1980s) to include standard lunch and dinner items found in similar restaurant chains such as Sambo's and Denny's. In 1976, at the same time as reorganization, International Industries became IHOP. In December 2019, IHOP announced plans to launch a chain of fast casual breakfast restaurants called Flip'd.

On July 16, 2007, IHOP Corporation announced a plan to acquire the bar-and-grill chain Applebee's in an all-cash transaction, valued at approximately US$2.1 billion. In the arrangement, Applebee's stock holders would receive $25.50 a share. IHOP stated it would franchise most of Applebee's 500 company-owned facilities. Applebee's had 1,943 restaurants worldwide at the time, including those operated by franchisees.