IHOP Changes Its Name To "IHOB" Promoting New Burger Focus

I know some of you are pondering the reason behind IHOP's sudden name change. I mean, I was as well until I did some digging. They will be removing the "P" from the end of the brands popular pancake house franchise and adding the letter "B", making the new name "IHOB". I don't know about you all, but it will take some getting use to in order to say it fluently.

The B stands for burgers, but should have been the letter C for confused, which is where it left its customers. The company took to Twitter for the announcement on June 4th. They went as far as changing the name of their Twitter account to IHOB and changed the signage of their flagship restaurant in Hollywood, having everyone wondering the reason behind the change through tweets like "The blot thickens, what could it b? Drop your guesses below." They even have tweets assisting with the pronunciation of the new name to help out folks like myself. I thought that was hilarious.

However, I am not really laughing about this. On June 11th, IHOP - or IHOB - finally revealed that the cause of the change is to introduce its new burger menu. The house of pancakes now specializes in burgers. The "Ultimate Steakburgers" menu includes burgers made out of all natural, 100% USDA choice, black Angus beef. The brand had a few burger items included on their general menu prior to this, so technically they aren't new to this area, but more than 50% of the restaurants traffic solely comes from their breakfast items.

Stephen Anderson from the Maxim Group weighed in on the reason for the brands shift during his "Closing Bell" appearance on CNBC, saying:

"Changing the name, even if it's a little bit gimmicky, does bring traffic and attention to the stores."

Some of you - including myself - will be glad to know that the change isn't permanent one. The same day of the burger announcement was the same day the brand announced in a press release that it is "just for the time being."