IHOP (acronym for International House of Pancakes) is an American multinational pancake house restaurant chain that specializes in breakfast foods. While IHOP's focus is on breakfast, serving pancakes, waffles, French toast, and omelets, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items such as sandwiches, burgers, and salads. Founded in 1958 in Toluca Lake, CA, approximately 99% of the restaurants are run by independent franchisees today. IHOP is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dine Brands Global (formed after IHOP’s 2007 acquisition of Applebee’s for $2.1B). At the end of 2022, the chain operated over 1,750 locations in the Americas, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN) is a food and beverage company and one of the world’s largest full-service dining companies. Dine Brands Global, Inc. owns and franchises both the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar concept and the International House of Pancakes concept. In December 2022, they acquired Fuzzy's Taco Shop for $80M, adding 138 restaurants in 18 states, and bringing their total restaurant count to over 3,587 stores across 3 brands. In March 2024 the company had a market cap of $0.70B and earned a 2023 revenue of $0.83B. They are headquartered in Glendale, CA.

FRANCHISEE: ROMULUS RESTAURANT GROUP – Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and founded in 1991, Romulus Restaurant Group operates 106 IHOP restaurants in Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, and Washington. The subject property is the franchise’s 107th location and is projected to open by the end of 2024. Romulus has consistently ranked in the “Franchise Top 100” by the Restaurant Finance Monitor and received numerous awards from IHOP corporate including Franchisee.