IHOP seeks franchisee for Springfield

|tab|

International House of Pancakes is coming to town. |ret||ret||tab|

The Glendale, Calif.-based franchise is building a restaurant in Springfield at 3804 S. Glenstone Ave. Company spokesman Patrick Lenow said IHOP now has 10 locations in Missouri.|ret||ret||tab|

According to the IHOP Corporation's Web site, |bold_on|www.ihop.com, the company had 946 restaurants in 38 states, Canada and Japan, as of Sept. 30, 2000.|ret||ret||tab|

Lenow said the company plans to open five new restaurants in Missouri, including the one in Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

"Part of our overall development plan is to develop a state so that we're convenient to as many residents as possible. Obviously, Springfield is one of those areas that (has) a high population base that we do want to develop," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're pretty fortunate we have about 94 percent awareness of our brand, whether it's IHOP or International House of Pancakes. We go by both, certainly, so we're fortunate that when we do come into a community, we have a built-in demand, so to speak," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

IHOP offers more than 16 types of pancakes, other traditional breakfast items, and a full lunch and dinner menu that the company likes to refer to as "contemporary, but not trendy," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

He said the Springfield IHOP will be approximately 5,000 square feet in size and it will seat about 176 individuals. According to the corporate Web site, the company has more than 40,000 employees system-wide, and Lenow added that, on the average, it takes about 75 full- and part-time employees to run an IHOP restaurant.|ret||ret||tab|

The company is actively seeking a franchisee for the Springfield location, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We believe very strongly in the franchise business model, and we look for active, involved franchisees versus passive investors," Lenow said.|ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield restaurant should be open in late May or early June, Lenow said, depending on the weather.|ret||ret||tab|

Fort Worth, Texas-based Harman and Son Construction Inc. is the general contractor for the project, but Lenow said the company doesn't release dollar amounts for individual projects. |ret||ret||tab|

IHOP is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IHP. In 1999, the corporation posted $1.1 million in retail sales according to the corporate Web site.|ret||ret||tab|

[[In-content Ad]]