The joint IHOP-Applebee concept that Dine Brands has developed will arrive in America in early 2025.
The parent corporation of the two chains said its inaugural dual-brand restaurant in the U.S. will be in Seguin, Texas.
It is expected to open its doors in the first quarter of 2025.
Seguin is about 40 minutes northeast of San Antonio and home to over 30,000 people.
Dine Brands is bringing the joint IHOP-Applebee concept to the city by renovating an IHOP restaurant in the area operated by franchisee R. Hakim Corp.
The news comes after Dine Brands CEO John Peyton told analysts and investors this week that the company is looking at 15 U.S. locations for joint IHOP-Applebee’s restaurants and “continuation[d] to stay on track to open our first domestic US location” in Texas City.
Diners can expect the joint IHOP-Applebee’s restaurant in Seguin to feature a shared kitchen and combo menu.
Its dining area will offer side-by-side IHOP and Applebee’s sections, according to an image of the planned dual-brand restaurant.
Peyton said in a statement that the restaurant’s dual design “allows IHOP to shine in the morning and Applebee’s to thrive in the afternoons and evenings.”
“The menu leverages each brand’s unique offerings to maximize day breaks and provide more choice, variety and value to guests,” he said.
R. Hakim Corp Vice President Danny Hakim said guests “can enjoy the best of both brands at any time of day within a great restaurant experience” once the concept debuts in Seguin.
Dine Brands’ joint IHOP-Applebee concept has been in the works for some time.
The company first tested it in non-US markets, opening 13 internationally to date, including three in the third quarter.
These dual-brand restaurants “have performed well” and bring in “on average about 1.5 times to 2 times the revenue of a single-brand restaurant,” Peyton told analysts and investors this week.
“We are pleased with the growth of the dual brand concept internationally and are excited about the potential of this opportunity domestically,” he said.
“It’s important to note about the dual brand that the driver for it is not necessarily the consumer proposition, it’s really the economics for our owners and developers,” he also said.
“It’s really a B2B product, in the sense that there are complementary day breaks, a shared kitchen, a shared menu, train staff.”
The joint international IHOP-Applebee restaurants are in Mexico, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Honduras, according to Dine Brands.
Local sites interested in the dual-brand restaurant concept are primarily “existing IHOPs that are adding an Applebee’s,” according to the Dine Brands CEO.
The company believes the concept can help spur economic improvement and growth across its system, Peyton said.
Dine Brands said its global restaurant count for the Applebee’s and IHOP brands was 1,618 and 1,809, respectively, at the end of the third quarter, including its current 13 dual-brand locations.
The company has also owned Fuzzy’s Taco Shop since late 2022.
There are 119 of them across the country.
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