The Great Burger Wars


I’ve never been to IHOb, but I have heard a lot about the chain’s stacks and stacks of pancakes. And no, IHOb isn’t a typo. On June 11, IHOP threw Twitter into chaos over the announcement of its name change from “International House of Pancakes” to “International House of Burgers.” The company teased the Internet for a few weeks when it released its new logo, getting consumers to guess what the “b” stood for. People guessed breakfast (a great guess), biscuits (also great), beluga whale (um?). I thought for sure it would be bacon. Although that answer was the most popular vote in a Twitter poll, we find out that it’s actually…. burgers?

It makes sense. People eat weird stuff these days. I have friends that pour honey on their burgers, on top of their mustard and relish. I can imagine a glorified breakfast sandwich with two pancakes and a sausage patty instead of the classic English Muffin. Well, now that’s a part of its menu, along with your classic American hamburger.

A number of people tagged other fast food chains that traditionally sell burgers, like Wendy’s, and asked their opinion of the name change. What started with some serious shade turned into a genius marketing move — IHOb got other big-name brands to engage their own followers, and talk about the “identity crisis” of the pancake house.

Some brands even joined in on the fun, changing their names to Pancake King and Chick-Fil-B.

Is International House of Burgers here to stay? I doubt it, given its menu says “limited edition.” However, I can’t wait to see how this plays out.