Bringing Home the Bacon at IHOP?
CEO for a year now, Julia Stewart is counting on new menu items and a revamped franchise model to boost growth at the flapjack chain
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By Christopher Palmeri
It's an American icon with enough cachet that people sell its merchandise on eBay. Its triple-stack pancakes -- not to mention the four different kinds of syrup -- are the ultimate comfort food. But for years, IHOP Corp. (short for the International House of Pancakes) had struggled with finding new ideas for growth: Its ads were unremarkable, its menu uninspired, and its profits steady but unspectacular.