The restaurant franchisor Dine Brands Global is planning to close up to 100 IHOP restaurants and 15 Applebee”™s restaurants over the next six months.
The Glendale, California-based company announced its plans during an investors”™ call, adding they would shutter the most underperforming eateries within both chains. In a statement issued to the media, the company downplayed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality industry and presented the news in a business-as-usual manner.
“Closures are part of the normal course of business in the industry, especially for a company of our size and footprint, and occur for many reasons ”“ including a restaurant being in a lapsed trade area ”“ where once vibrant traffic characteristics are no longer present ”“ or as a result of leases expiring, among other reasons,” the statement said.
The company did not identify which restaurants were being targeted for closure. Within this region, IHOP”™s New York restaurants can be found in Hartsdale, Larchmont, Mohegan Lake, Monroe, Newburgh, Spring Valley, West Nyack and Yonkers; the chain”™s sole Fairfield County outpost is in Stamford. It operates eight additional eateries in Connecticut.
Applebee”™s has its sole Fairfield County restaurant in Danbury, and it operates five other Connecticut outlets. Across the New York border, the chain can be found in Brewster, Hawthorne, Middletown, Mohegan Lake, New Rochelle, Poughkeepsie and Yonkers.
