INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Washington: Few expected it to be burgers.After tantalizing fans for a week, IHOP, the ubiquitous blue-roofed
American chain which promises pancakes 24 hours a day, said Monday it was changing its name to IHOb -- International House of Burgers -- in
a ploy to expand its market image beyond breakfast.The move sent pancake breakfast lovers into a furor and sparked snarky broadsides from
rivals already deeply rooted in the hamburger business."The world is spiraling out of control and I can't understand why IHOP would force us
to deal with more unwelcome change," said one Twitter user."Why is ihop going thru a mid life crisis," tweeted another.The venerable chain,
60 years old this year, has long offered sandwiches and burgers across its nearly 1,800 locations.But the name -- International House of
Pancakes -- has always been rooted in their calorie-laden breakfast standards: pancakes, waffles and french toast, often smothered in syrup
and whipped cream.IHOP baited the public a week ago saying it was changing its last initial to "b" in a rebranding exercise.With over 30,000
replies to their announcement on Twitter, guesses spanned from "bacon" to "bananas", but the consensus seemed to be "breakfast".Revealing
"burgers" on Monday, the company said it was a temporary change to celebrate the release of its new "Ultimate Steakburgers" menu
category."We are definitely going to be IHOP, but we want to convey that we are taking our burgers as seriously as our pancakes," Darren
Rebelez, president of IHOP, told CNN."Burgers are a quintessential, American menu item so it makes perfect sense that IHOP would go over
the top to create a delicious line-up of quality burgers," said Nevielle Panthaky, the chain's culinary chief.The move reaped taunts from
well-established fast food chains.Whataburger tweeted: "As much as we love our pancakes, we'd never change our name to Whatapancake.""Not
really afraid of the burgers from a place that decided pancakes were too hard," tweeted Wendy's, another popular burger restaurant.Some
dismayed fans just could not understand the need for it."@IHOb the b stands for blasphemy," tweeted one. "I'm okay with the name change as
long as you don't forget your roots," said another.DineEquity, the company that owns IHOP/IHOb and also the Applebee's chain, sought to
assure customers that nothing had really changed."Don't worry, Pancakers
We're just expanding our burger horizons," it said.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff
and is published from a syndicated feed.)
