IHOP Name Change A Phony; Twitter Makes Fun Of Chain

The mystery is solved, sort of. IHOP, the pancake place, tried to put us on the edge of our seats with the secrecy surrounding its name change to IHOb. The little “b” is the “p” flipped, and it stands for burgers — specifically a new line of steakburgers — and not the pancakes the chain is known for. The name change to an acronym for International House of Burgers may not be — probably isn’t — permanent.

Whaaat? That’s more or less the reaction on Twitter, where people are calling out IHOb — or IHOP or International House of Pancakes, late night breakfast spot for drunks or whatever you want to call it. They're saying the temporary name change amounts to trickery and, let’s get right down to the sticky syrup of it all, is a really dumb idea.

Company President Darren Rebelez said in Monday’s announcement that the chain is “always going to be IHOP.”

“America loves burgers, and America loves IHOP, and we thought this was a fantastic combination to bring America’s burgers to an iconic brand like IHOP,” Rebelez said on Fox & Friends.

Drew Magary — you remember him, the Deadspin and GQ writer who is the wit behind the epic “Hater’s Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog” — says “he’s gonna die” if he doesn’t find out why the New York Yankees started calling themselves the Blankees.

Magary goes on quite a Twitter tirade, using some colorful words we won’t print here, saying that every blankety-blank chain is now going to temporarily rebrand. “We’re BENDY’S now,” he predicts.

“Hear me out: make the bun OUT of hash browns,” he says in one tweet. “Then you'd be onto something.”

Twitter user Jmarie proclaimed International House of Burgers “the dumbest name ever, especially for a place famous for their pancakes,” and then wonders, “Are y’all high or what?”

Kent Sanderson suggested there may be some genius to the strategy. “In fairness, #IHOb is how it’s pronounced when it’s 3 AM, you’re drunk, and you’re asking a policeman where you can get pancakes.”

“International House of Lies” is more like it,” The AlphaGinger wrote in a tweet that began: “No IHOP, No! You had one job. One. All ya had to do was serve cinnamon pancakes every Sunday and everything would be ok. I don’t even recognize you anymore. @IHOb you’ve changed.”

Changing the restaurant’s name was the “best way to convince [customers[ that we are as serious about out new line of Ultimate Steakburgers as we are about our pancakes,” Brad Haley, the chief marketing officer of IHOb, said in a press release.

“We’ve pancaked pancakes for 60 years now, so it’s the perfect time to start burgerin’ burgers, and we’re kicking it off by flipping the ‘p’ in IHOP to ‘b’ for burgers.”

“Burgerin’ burgers.” Yes, someone in marketing came up with that.

So far, only IHOP’s flagship operation has been rebranded as IHOb, Fox News reported. Others will have IHOb-themed elements inside, but will retain the original signage.

The restaurant chain said June 4 it was changing its name. It confirmed the “b” wasn’t for breakfast, but otherwise left it to consumers’ imagination. Some people thought it would reflect the popularity of bacon or a focus on pancakes with blueberries. No one suggested "Bafflehouse," but that might have been a good choice given the response.

Before we leave, are a couple more tweets that suggest a branding fail:

Anninna Jokinen said the branding needs a lot more work. It uses a similar type font to o.b.-brand tampons. “I’d recommend redesigning your logo, because it says, visually, “International House of Tampons.” She attached a photo of both and, by golly, she’s right.

Twitter user Rachel Spensieri caught it, too.

Photo by Shutterstock / Alan Stoddard