IHOP Name Change To IHOb

The artist formerly known as IHOP has an announcement to make: It's IHOb now, thank you very much, and the reason for the change-up isn't what you thought it was going to b.

In a move that feels like a middle child dyeing their hair purple and screaming "Look at me!" to an empty house, IHOP teased last week that it was flipping the script (and the pancake) with a new name, IHOb. And now we know: It stands for burgers.

Burgers were always there as a background track to a symphony of pancakes, but these newcomers are steakburgers, made with 100% USDA choice black angus ground beef. And despite a general love of burgers nationwide, the general consensus to this objectively inoffensive marketing ploy seems to be "okay cute but please stop."

Maybe we're all angry because we feel played. The "b" was going to stand for breakfast! Wasn't it? We joked at the possibility of an International House of Bananas, or Bacon, or Bpancakes. But it was clearly breakfast (or brunch, if you're a late riser) and they swerved us. We got played by the social media team of a roadside chain—and we tend to like it better when they just play each other.

We've worked really hard for like 100 years to get people to remember our brand name so if it's cool with everyone we're just going to stick with MoonPie thank you

— MoonPie (@MoonPie) June 11, 2018

It's also an interesting move to enter a space that contains such giants as McDonald's, Shake Shack, Five Guys and In 'n' Out.

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But as Skift Table points out, they're capitalizing on a reduced cost of hamburger beef, and the name change isn't even technically permanent. It's just the forward-facing part of an attempt to expand their audience into lunch and dinner.

Me: you know how you're known for literally one thing?

IHOP Executives: yes

Me: let's rebrand and sell something nearly all other restaurants sell

IHOP Executives: *absolutely going crazy, i get hit in the face with a briefcase full of money*

— ally 𝖌𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗 🐊🧑‍🍳🐕🏳️‍🌈 (@notacroc) June 11, 2018

That's not to say the burgers won't taste good. The menu has seven new burger creations, including Mushroom & Swiss, the hickory-smoked bacon-topped Cowboy BBQ and the spicy Jalapeño Kick. There's also the seemingly on-brand "Big Brunch," which has bacon, egg, potato and cheese.

A happy medium, it seems, would be to just put one of these steakburgers between two pancakes. Works for every meal.