![]() So far, investors like what Joyce is offering. “A lot of restaurant business is gut instinct,” he said. After crediting consumer research and data in helping to turn around Choice Hotels, Joyce said he’s also using it at Dine Brands to glean consumer insights. In contrast, there are about 1,800 franchised IHOP locations and about 1,900 franchised Applebee’s units.īig data, an industry buzzword, is also a focus. Dine Brands is eyeing “smaller regional fast-casual” chains with an “ethnic” and health pitch and about 70 to 80 units that he said the company can expand to as many as 800. Joyce said he’s also planning to add locations in “dense urban markets” under both brands that only have kitchens to service orders.Īcquisition is also on the menu. At IHOP, for instance, new packaging has been designed so that pancakes don’t arrive at customers’ homes soggy. Both Applebee’s and IHOP are fast expanding in online ordering to increase delivery and takeout sales. Many “want mainstream flavor, large plates and abundant flavor.”īut Joyce isn’t blind to the shifting trends. “Millennials aren’t monolithic,” he said, adding that half of the company’s customers are under 34. Joyce also disputed notions that chains such as Applebee’s and IHOP are losing millennial consumers. We have a lot of customers who are young people starting a family.” If things are tight, they can afford to come in. “Our core customers say, 'We want abundant value.' We want to drive frequency. “Applebee’s has always been known for big plates of food,” he said in the interview. At Applebee’s, the chain’s deals include two entrees and an appetizer for $20.Īpplebee’s has also returned to offering big portions after a move by prior management to change its menu, raise prices and shrink portion size in a bid to go more upscale alienated its traditional customers, which Joyce described as a family with household income of $75,000 or less. One of the other traffic-driving tools Joyce has deployed both for IHOP and Applebee’s: limited-time deals, including the bundled offer of IHOP’s new burger with unlimited fries and a drink, starting at $6.99. IHOP has also started to advertise its savory items, including omelets, after traditionally advertising only its sweet offerings, such as pancakes or waffles, Joyce told me, adding that he seeks to expand IHOP sales beyond breakfast, which represents about half of the chain’s business. ![]() (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images) That pattern has lasted for at least two years, according to a May report from TDn2K’s Black Box Intelligence, which tracks weekly sales from over 30,000 restaurant units generating over $69 billion in annual revenue. Indeed, while the restaurant industry saw a 1.5% increase in same-store sales in April, its best in the past 31 months, traffic continued to decline. ![]() We need to take share from other brands.” “Casual dining and family dining categories are big, but they are not growing. “We are in tough categories,” Stephen Joyce, CEO of IHOP and Applebee’s parent Dine Brands, said in an interview in May. At the same time, there’s also that growing crop of hip fast-casual chains with healthy and natural food pitches that compete for consumers’ wallet share. Time-crunched consumers are increasingly ordering food for delivery or takeout and don’t have time to sit down for a full-service meal. ![]() ![]() IHOP (yes, the name you are familiar with isn't going anywhere - IHOb is temporary) pulled the trick as family-dining, casual-dining and other full-service restaurants have faced slowing sales and traffic in recent years. ![]()
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