GLENDALE Calif. IHOP Corp. said eight executives of Applebee’s International Inc., including president and chief executive Dave Goebel, will leave the company after its $2.3 billion acquisition by the pancake specialist, currently slated for Nov. 29.
In a statement issued Nov. 7, IHOP indicated that three more leadership posts will gradually be eliminated, whittling Applebee’s top-level team to 10 people, as IHOP converts a large majority of the 510 company-operated Applebee’s units to franchises.
Among the other Applebee’s executives who have not been asked to remain with the chain is chief financial officer Steve Lumpkin.
Minimal leadership changes are expected at IHOP, officials said, though the company has engaged an executive search firm to seek a president for both its IHOP and Applebee’s business units. They would both report to IHOP chairwoman and chief executive Julia Stewart. (To see an organizational chart of IHOP’s planned management structure, click here.)
“Over the next several months I plan to devote a substantial portion of my time to the day-to-day management of the Applebee’s business unit as I work with our new leadership team,” Stewart said in the statement.
IHOP said the realignment is necessary because Applebee’s will be transformed into nearly a pure franchising business, with not many restaurant operations of its own. Some of its current divisions will be integrated into comparable components of IHOP, with some Applebee’s executives retained or promoted to lead those departments, the buying company said. It cited such functional areas as finance, legal, development, international and human resources.
“We will have two robust business units devoting full attention to our first priority, delighting IHOP and Applebee’s guests, while the parent company facilitates the sharing of appropriate services,” Stewart said.
The buyout of Applebee’s, approved by the casual-dining company’s shareholders two weeks ago, will create one of the industry’s largest franchisors of full-service restaurants. The IHOP chain currently consists of 1,328 all-day restaurants, most of which are franchised, and Applebee’s franchises 1,455 stores, with the 510 company units to be added to that tally.
IHOP is based in Glendale, Calif., and Applebee’s is currently headquartered in Overland Park, Kan.
