The Name Change From IHOP To IHOB

International House of Pancakes (IHOP) recently changed its name to International House of Burgers (IHOB), and although the name change was temporary, the action received many mixed reactions from citizens on social media platforms.IHOP admitted that the name change was just a temporary stunt aimed at increasing the sales in the 24/7 restaurant. The main risk associated with the new restaurant name it that IHOP would have to compete with other fast food restaurants that offer the same food products at lower prices. The additional risk is that the demand for healthy food products has been on the rise over the past few years. Changing the restaurant name from IHOP with a ‘p’ that stands for pancakes to a ‘b’ that stands for burgers only shows that the restaurant has switched from advertising one carbohydrate fast food to another (“IHOP becomes IHOB, with ’b’ for burgers,” 2018).

IHOP could also increase sales in the restaurants by providing a product that is unique from the others. For instance they would have to make their burgers unique in such a way that customers would rather stay in line for long than just purchase another burger from a local fast food shop.IHOP could also explore the opportunity of obtaining a solid presence in the takeout and delivery market by becoming the only restaurant that sells averagely priced and good quality food products at any time of the day. Although the name change from IHOP to IHOB received a lot of negative reactions, it did boost IHOP’S sales (Chemtob, 2018). The main aim of changing IHOP’S name to IHOB was to increase the number of customers who walked in for lunch and dinner as most of IHOP’s customers only show up for breakfast. The other goal of changing the name according to IHOP was to show the customers that the restaurant was dedicated to serving burgers as it was to pancakes(”IHOP: Fake name change to IHOB to boost burger business was risk worth taking,” 2018).

References

Chemtob, D. (2018, June 11). IHOb (Née IHOP) Temporary Name Change Sends Parent’s Stock Higher. Retrieved from https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2018/06/11/ihob-nee-ihop-temporary-name-change-sends-parents-stock-higher/?ns=prod/accounts-wsj&ns=prod/accounts-wsj

IHOP becomes IHOb, with ’b’ for burgers. (2018, June 11). Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/06/11/ihop-becomes-ihob-burgers/682515002/

IHOP: Fake name change to IHOb to boost burger business was risk worth taking. (2018, July 19). Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/07/19/ihop-chose-fish-where-fish-find-non-breakfast-footing/796897002/