IHOP

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Addition of three Stuffed Crepes stacks pancake house with guests, sales

Veteran IHOP franchisee Joe Katin says, "It was the most unbelievable promotion I've ever seen in the IHOP system; it was extremely successful." Katin, who has been an IHOP franchisee for 30 years and currently has 35 IHOP locations in Texas, with more planned, is talking about Stuffed Crepes, which wowed IHOP guests last fall and garners this year's "Best Menu/Line Extension" category of Nation's Restaurant News' 2004 MenuMasters Awards.

The three versions of the dish take the chain's existing crepes - normally served sweet - and fill them with scrambled eggs, cheese and breakfast meats for a savory twist on favorite IHOP products.

Monte Loiacono, IHOP director of research and development, led the team that developed the crepes, along with John Koch, now vice president of product, menu and purchasing; Luis Galvan, test kitchen supervisor; and Lynn Gabriel, quality assurance manager.

During the crepes' 90 days of fame, they generated about 6.5 percent of IHOP's total sales, a stronger-than-typical performance for a promotional product, according to IHOP communications director Patrick Lenow. Depending on location and crepe type, the dish sold for $3.99 to $6.99, with an average food cost of 20 percent to 25 percent. IHOP's average guest check is just over $7. Nearly half of the crepes were sold at breakfast, about a third of total crepe sales came at lunch and the rest were split between dinner and other times.

Lenow credits...