IHOP has partnered with Google Cloud to deploy its AI-powered, food ordering recommendation engine across restaurants nationwide. IHOP is the first restaurant chain to leverage Google Cloud’s Recommendations AI technology within its online ordering system, according to the company.
Once the technology is fully rolled out, customers will see personalized recommendations, including frequently ordered items, when ordering online. The partnership is part of IHOP’s strategic investments in its growing off-premises business, which is now above 20% of the mix.
"At IHOP our guests always come first, and we're constantly making new investments and improvements to meet their evolving tastes and expectations. One of the biggest shifts we've seen with our guests is a preference for online ordering, with IHOP's to-go business rapidly growing to more than 20% of total sales in the last few years alone," CMO Kieran Donahue said in a statement. "Our new partnership with Google Cloud infuses AI into IHOP's online ordering experience, making it even easier for our guests to place online orders, quickly find the items they love, and discover our newest products relevant to their individual tastes and interests."
With Recommendations AI, IHOP will leverage Google's experience with AI and machine learning to create a more personalized and tailored online ordering experience for guests based on customer preferences and changes to IHOP's menu offerings, pricing, and promotions. For example, if a guest has shown an affinity for spicy items in past orders, IHOP will recommend its new Poblano Eggs Benedicts, according to the company.
In a statement, Krish Lakshminarayanan, VP, Data and Analytics at parent company Dine Brands, said, “Using Google Cloud's Recommendations AI and BigQuery products, our internal technology team developed an item recommendation engine, the first of its kind in the restaurant space using Google's AI. IHOP is now quickly building, training, configuring, and launching our own AI models that seamlessly interact with our guests and will provide them with a personalized online experience."
In addition to this tech investment, IHOP is also introducing a new point-of-sale system across its footprint. IHOP has also recently launched a new website, app and loyalty program, which now counts about 6.5 million members.
IHOP recently posted its ninth consecutive quarter of comp sales, with a 2.1% year-over-year increase in Q2. Weekly average sales have surpassed 2019 levels.
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