IHOP will introduce a new restaurant chain, Flip’d by IHOP, in 2020, with its first location in Atlanta, the company announced on Wednesday.
The “fast-casual” restaurant will be half the size of a current IHOP and offer some items not available at current restaurants, including breakfast burritos and a “pancake bowl” to simplify eating pancakes on the go. The restaurant will emphasize speed in its execution of orders, with use of ordering by kiosks in the restaurant and by mobile phone.
IHOP will seek high-traffic areas of cities for the new restaurants. The company is currently investigating sites in Denver, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Its expansion into fast-casual dining comes as foot traffic in the full-service restaurant industry has declined, as more consumers seek ready-made meals in supermarkets.
Same-store IHOP sales grew 1.2 percent in the third quarter, as customers were fewer but spent more per visit. Shares of Dine Brands, IHOP’s parent company, have risen 21 percent in 2019.
