IHOP

IHOP

Basic information
Founded	14 July 1958
Legal Structure	Subsidiary
Industry	Food
Also known as	International House of Pancakes
Official website	https://www.ihop.com/

IHOP Restaurants LLC is an public American pancake house store that's is an subsidiary to Dine Brands after IHOP acquired Applebee's for $2.1 billion in 2007.

Consumer-impact summary

• User Freedom: Users can send a request to opt out of receiving promotional advertisement emails and request access, deletion and viewing of personal information depending on users local laws.
• User privacy: Collects personal information including surveillance data, phone number, demographic information, dining preferences, who you dine with (e.g., family and friends), visits frequency, postal address and/or zip code and shares it between "affiliates and between all Dine brands", franchisees, and Third-party service providers.
• Data Handling: The company uses data to provide services to consumers, site functionality, marketing services, data analytics and security improvements. Additionally, the company uses said data to tailor offering to users interests, operate and improve business, maintain records, and conduct internal monitoring and training, develop new services and products, however it's provided with limited information.
• Business Model: The company franchisees majority of its location.

Incidents

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the IHOP category.

Manager calling a customer "darky" (2015)

Around late March, black customer Jimmy Bell filed a lawsuit against IHOP for allegedly facing discrimination. He claims on 12 March after 10 pm he arrived at a IHOP restaurant to purchase a big steak omelet, stack of pancakes with butter, has browns, large milk and orange juice. While waiting for 5 minutes and witnessing other customers being served, a white manager approached the man and told him he can only get carryout. This resulted into an argument and as the manager went to leave the restaurant he said “You darkies always trying to get over on something." Additionally, he claims he was offered coupons to receive a free meal, however he declined.

Receipt

Racial slurs on customers receipts (2018)

On 11 April at Grandview, Missouri, a 19 year old women Maya Thomas went to IHOP to purchase Colorado, Big Steak, and eggs. Upon exiting the restaurant, she discovered a black employee added an discriminatory word to her receipt. Two days later, Maya contacted IHOP, however they received a 10 IHOP gift certificate via mail days later, resulting in the mother posting the incident on social media and commenting on the situation.

"I think that’s really what made her mad. Of all the things you could call someone, you call them that. And then the way you deal with it is by giving them 10 dollars?"

IHOP President Darren Rebelez released the following statement;

"IHOP and its franchisees do not and will not tolerate racism, bigotry or harassment of any kind. The franchisee, who owns and operates this restaurant, once made aware of the incident, terminated the employee in question and immediately contacted the guest to apologize. For 60 years, IHOP and our franchisees have strived to create a warm and hospitable dining experience for all guests, and we are currently working with the franchisee to ensure all possible steps are taken to deliver on that promise.”

Later, a spokesperson for IHOP confirmed the employee was terminated following the incident.

"The franchisee was made aware on the 13th, an investigation was launched that same day and the server was terminated”.

Requesting Teenagers to prepay before receiving service (2018)

In a now deleted Facebook post, on 11 March Avery Gagne alleged dinning with his family at a IHOP restaurant in Auburn, Maine, when he overheard a waitress telling a group of black teenager to prepay, saying it was “a new generation thing.” The family then questioned the employee, which they responded it was due to management having issues with customers walking out and nothing related to race. After gaining traction on social media the next day IHOP manager Melvin Escobar posted on the Facebook and commented about the situation in a interview with Sun Journal.

“A meeting has taken place with all of our staff members. Everyone has been made aware of these inexcusable actions and reminded how we handle matters correctly in the future,” the post read. “We have rectified the situation and can guarantee this is not what we condone to go on within our restaurant. Please spare our credibility, as this situation is not a reflection of the service we strive to deliver.” I’m personally, for me, kind of offended because I’m a Spanish person. I'm the type of person to say, ‘Here we help different kinds. Everybody I believe is American. Everybody is the same.’ We’re not racist. The policy is you come in, enjoy and we charge you at the end like a normal restaurant. . .She took her own action."

IHOP President Darren Rebelez released a statement on 13 March, stating it was an "isolate incident" and claiming it's reaching out to the affect group and insuring appropriate disciplinary action.

Refusing to serve customers due to their race (2024)

On 26 December, Keisha Mitchel and her boyfriend Elvis Polley went to an IHOP restaurant located in Mesquite Texas, to celebrate Elvis birthday. When seated, the waitress told the couple they weren't going to receive service over being too pick, however an employee later told the group it was because of their color. Keisha recorded the incident and later posting it on Tiktok, commenting; "She didn't want to say she was racist, she said she's 'picky.' No, that's not being 'picky' if you're selecting only a certain group of people that you want to serve."

IHOP franchisee Anthraper Restaurant would release the following statement;

"Since our founding, we have strived to create warm and hospitable dining experiences for all guests, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind, or actions that allude to any form of discrimination. We have fully investigated this matter and taken appropriate actions, including termination of the employees involved. This isolated incident is not reflective of our ongoing commitment to our guests and Team Members. Additionally, we will be providing additional anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training to ensuring that all remaining Team Members understand the company's unwavering intolerance of any prohibited form of discrimination."

See also

• Denny's
• Waffle House
• Shoney's