To Absolutely No One's Surprise, IHOP Switches Name Back From IHOb
By RJ Johnson - @rickerthewriter
July 10, 2018
Sorry burger lovers. It looks like pancakes are back in style.
A month after changing its name from IHOP to IHOB as part of a marketing campaign aimed at promoting the restaurants' new series of burgers, the pancake chain has switched back to its original name, and updating its social media handles.
The switch back to IHOP came on Monday as the restaurant began a new pancake promotion to celebrate the chain's 60th birthday. IHOP says they'll be offering patrons a short stack of pancakes for 60 cents between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on July 17th.
“We’re incredibly proud of the IHOb campaign that was created to announce our new Ultimate Steakburgers – it did exactly what we intended it to do, which was to get people talking about, and thinking differently about, IHOP,” a company spokeswoman told NBC.
We’re giving away 60¢ short stacks on July 17 from 7a-7p for IHOP’s 60th birthday. That’s right, IHOP! We’d never turn our back on pancakes (except for that time we faked it to promote our new burgers) pic.twitter.com/KsbkMJhKuf
— IHOP (@IHOP) July 9, 2018
The company first hinted at a name change beginning in June, and making the switch official on June 11 as part of their effort to bring attention to their new steakburgers on the menu. The switch was widely mocked, with several other fast food restaurants known for their burgers joking online about switching their names to refer to pancakes.
Wendy's Twitter account, which is known for its acerbic commentary, expressed their total lack of surprise when a Twitter user asked them to comment on the name change.
Of course it was
— Wendy's (@Wendys) July 9, 2018
“All along, we said IHOb was a fun, temporary name change to launch our new burgers,” the spokeswoman said. “There was never an intention of walking away from pancakes or IHOP.”
And just as there was plenty of reactionary snark when it came to IHOP's original name change, commenters online are bringing the sass to IHOP for switching back.
If your real name had Pancakes in it, you'd probably keep it as well
— IHOP (@IHOP) July 9, 2018
oh thank god. you’re back.
— stepdad (@Tuba_Ryan) July 9, 2018
— Mmm π (@TripWilson13) July 10, 2018
Just had some burgers to bromote ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— IHOP (@IHOP) July 9, 2018
Glad you got over that phase never change #ihop
— Dev✨ (@spnbarnes) July 9, 2018
Photo: Getty Images