IHOP, formerly known as the International House of Pancakes, is a US based restaurant chain owned by the Dine Equity Inc. group. IHOP, which has over 1,500 branches in the U.S., is known mainly for its breakfast food; pancakes, French toast and omelettes, but it also serves lunch and dinner items.
IHOP finally enters the Asia-Pacific Market with the opening of its first Asia-Pacific franchise in the Philippines today, after signing a franchise agreement with InterDine Corp., which plans to open 20 IHOP restaurants in the Philippines over the next five years. InterDine is a subsidiary of Global Restaurant Concepts Inc., which also operates other U.S. restaurant brands in the Philippines, which includes California Pizza Kitchen and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro.
IHOP’s first Philippines branch opens today on the second floor of the W Global Center, just above the newly opened CPK branch, located at 30th St. cor 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, an area that is fast becoming one of Metro Manila’s busiest dining hub.
After IHOP, the Global Restaurant Concepts group is set to introduce two other International chains within the year. These are Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese barbecue restaurant and Mad for Garlic, an Italian restaurant that originated in Korea.
Meanwhile, Ortigas, Pasig, and Greenhills residents are now patiently waiting for the opening of a new Wildflour branch on the ground floor of SM’s Podium, after instagram pictures of the wooden scaffolding bearing the Wildflour name flooded both Facebook’s and twitter’s newsfeeds last week.
The smaller branch, tentatively set to open in 6 to 8 weeks, will be more like a coffee bar, offering more sandwiches and lighter cafe fare.