Applebee’s and IHOP parent aims for ‘deliberate and sustainable growth’
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Dine Brands Global Inc., the parent company of Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar and IHOP restaurants, has named Tony Moralejo to the newly created position of president for international and global development and Justin Skelton as chief information officer.
Moralejo most recently was executive vice president for international business and global development at Church’s Chicken and its international brand, Texas Chicken. He also has held franchise development and leadership roles at Burger King in Latin America.
Photo: Justin Skelton, chief information officer.
Skelton is replacing Adrian Butler, who is now CIO of Casey's General Stores. Skelton had been Dine Brands’ vice president for information technology infrastructure and operations since June of 2019 and had been the Glendale, Calif.-based company’s acting CIO before the company made his title permanent. Before joining Dine, he had been vice president for infrastructure, support and operations at CVS Health.
Moralejo and Skelton both report to Dine Brands' chief financial officer, Thomas Song.
“As we get through the global pandemic we realize we must have key leadership and capabilities in place to compete effectively everywhere; on all brands, across all geographies,” Song said in a press release announcing the appointments on Monday.
“Re-shaping our portfolio for long-term growth for all franchisees across the globe has always been our mission, and our approach is about deliberate and sustainable growth, with a technology infrastructure that supports and enables all restaurants. Tony and Justin have a clear understanding of this, and they are the perfect leaders to help evolve our growth and technology platforms of the future.”
Photo: Tony Moralejo, president for international and global development.
Their appointment is not the only management change underway at Dine Brands; it will have a new chief executive in February, when its current CEO, Steve Joyce, is scheduled to leave the company.
Both IHOP and Applebee’s, like most full-service restaurants, have been hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic, with Applebee’s same-store sales falling as far as 80.6% of last year’s numbers at the end of March and IHOP’s falling 84.6%
Sales began to recover in April as both chains started reopening their dining rooms as soon as it was legal to do so.
There are more than 3,600 restaurants, between Applebee’s and IHOP, worldwide.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
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