Off-premise business boosts Applebee’s, IHOP salesOff-premise business boosts Applebee’s, IHOP sales

Off-premise business drove sales gains at Applebee’s and IHOP in the most recent quarter, parent company Dine Brands Global Inc. said Wednesday, adding that it sees significant runway for further growth in delivery.

Same-store sales at Applebee’s rose 7.7 percent for the quarter ended Sept. 30. IHOP’s same-store sales were up 1.2 percent in the period.

Dine Brands’ net income for the quarter rose to $23.6 million, compared with a loss of $450.3 million for the comparable quarter a year ago. The company saw revenue for the quarter of $194 million, up from $174.9 million in the year-ago period.

Dine Brands CEO Steve Joyce said the results show that efforts put in place since he took the helm of the company last year are taking hold.

“When I joined Dine Brands as CEO a little over a year ago, I knew this company had untapped potential. I believe we had to execute on three strategic priorities to realize our full potential and position our strong brands for long-term success,” Joyce said during Wednesday’s earnings call.

“Over the last 12 months, we focused on establishing a high-performance, value-based culture, driving sustainable, positive comp sales and traffic, and importantly, returning Dine to a growth company,” he said.

Specifically, Dine Brand executives credited off-premise sales for much of the quarter’s growth. At Applebee’s, off-premise sales grew 37 percent and now make up 10 percent of the sales mix.  At IHOP, to-go comparable sales increased by 35 percent and to-go traffic by 26 percent. IHOP recently announced a national delivery partnership with DoorDash.

“While the vast majority of our current off-premise business is to-go, we anticipate delivery being offered in almost a thousand restaurants by year-end in addition to our emerging catering business,” said John Cywinski, Applebee’s president. “From my perspective, no brand is better positioned than Applebee’s to capitalize on off-premise demand as we fully expect our off-premise business to double from 10% to 20% of total sales over the next few years.”

Applebee’s and IHOP together have more than 3,600 restaurants worldwide.

Contact Gloria Dawson at [email protected] 

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