IHOP launches $5 all-you-can-eat pancake promo for back-to-school season

Starting Wednesday, IHOP is serving up all-you-can-eat pancakes for $5, joining a list of U.S. restaurants offering budget-friendly meal deals in hopes of luring back inflation-weary customers.

The limited-time promotion, available to dine-in customers only, runs from now until September 15 at U.S.-based IHOP locations. Customers who choose partake in the promotion will get a full stack of five buttermilk pancakes to begin with, followed by additional flapjacks served two at a time, on an as-requested basis. 

In a news release emailed to CBS MoneyWatch, IHOP said the restaurant has historically launched the promotion at the beginning of every year, but decided in 2024 to offer it during the start of the back-to-school season “to help families when schedules are tight, and wallets are pinched from shopping.” The pancake promo was last offered in August 2023 to celebrate IHOP’s 65th anniversary.

IHOP’s pancake deal lands at a time when both fast food and sit-down restaurants alike are trying to entice budget-conscious consumers back into their restaurants. The CEO of Dine Brands, which owns Applebee’s and IHOP, told CNBC in May that casual restaurants are seeing a decline in low-income customers, a key demographic. Fast-food giants Burger King, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and other well known chains have also launched $5, $6 or $7 value meals in recent months, aimed at increasing foot traffic to locations. 

Americans have recoiled from fast-food establishments this year, arguing that the typically budget-friendly restaurants have raised prices too high. A January poll by consulting firm Revenue Management Solutions found that about 25% of people who make under $50,000 were cutting back on fast food, pointing to cost as a concern. The most recent evidence of customer pullback happened this week when McDonald’s announced a global sales slump in the second quarter.

Restaurants analysts have noted that fast-food establishments are also competing for customers with grocery stores, which have lowered their prices in recent months, allowing more Americans to save money by cooking meals at home. 

IHOP saw its same-restaurant sales decline by 1.7% year over year during the first quarter of 2024, according to company records. The decline was “due to a decrease in traffic,” the company states in its most recent earnings report. The restaurant brought in roughly $880 million in sales during the quarter, roughly the same amount as it did the year prior.

The all-you-can-eat buttermilk pancake promotion lands one week after IHOP announced a partnership with Kraft Heinz that allows the ketchup maker to start selling IHOP branded syrup in grocery stores nationwide.