Gary Whitta
Member
Oh my.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2010/04/27/business/gnp-pancake042710.txt
Executives at Glendale-based IHOP are hoping Americans love for two dessert and breakfast foods will make its latest product a hit: a stack of pancakes layered over cheesecake filling.
The company on Monday debuted its new five-layer pancake stackers, a creation that includes a layer of crust-less cheesecake in between two pancakes topped with fruit and whipped cream.
A regular combination comes with bacon, hash browns and two eggs and totals 1,250 calories, according to IHOP, which did not offer other nutritional details and did not have specifics for only a pancake stack.
The pancake stackers will be available until June 20 for around $4.99 nationwide and $5.99 in the Los Angeles area, IHOP spokeswoman Jennifer Pendergrass said.
We think this is the best of both worlds, with two great, delicious flavors with our world-famous buttermilk pancakes and our strawberry cheesecakes, Pendergrass said.
While experts criticized the meals nutritional value, the new item, like other recent food innovations, offers a new way of eating popular dishes that could win strong demand in the marketplace, they said.
Generally what we look for is nothing thats new that weve never heard of, but its new variations of things that we already know, said Harry Balzer, vice president of the NPD Group, which monitors trends in the food industry.
IHOPs pancake stackers hit stores two weeks after KFC debuted another restaurant creation that troubled nutritional experts: a sandwich assembled with two pieces of fried chicken instead of bread and filled with bacon and Monterey jack and pepper jack cheeses.
The 540-calorie Double Down sandwich contains 1,380 milligrams of sodium and 32 grams of fat.
Those two items and other offerings have come as government agencies and nutritionists have promoted healthier eating habits while the nation continues to struggle with high rates of obesity and diabetes, experts said.
That could mean that many consumers arent interested in eating healthier foods, and that restaurants know that, said Keri Gans, a New York-based registered dietitian and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Assn.
Theres always going to be some consumers that dont listen, dont care about health that just basically say, Im going to eat whatever I want, Gans said.
Unfortunately, theyre going to pay the consequences later.
IHOP also offers healthier options on its IHOP for Me menu, which includes items under 600 calories, Pendergrass said.
Were really about the freedom of choice for our guests, she said.
But the companys newest low-cost offering, which will be combined with a national ad campaign, adds to an array of existing unhealthy restaurant choices, experts said.
Julia Stewart, chairwoman and chief executive of DineEquity Inc., which owns IHOP and Applebees Neighborhood Grill & Bar, said in a March conference call with investors that the company hoped new menu items would help it rebound from declining same-store sales figures.
DineEquity, which employs 225 workers at its Glendale headquarters and more than 1,000 at its company-owned locations nationwide, lost $154 million in 2008, but rebounded with $31 million in 2009 earnings, even as same-store sales continued to slide.
The limited-time pancake stackers offer could lure new customers to IHOP stores, Pendergrass said.

http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2010/04/27/business/gnp-pancake042710.txt