If IHOP Is Now IHOB, Does That Mean Pancakes Are Passe?????????????????

                                 First Lord And Taylor, now this????????????

                                 When the first IHOP appeared, near the Menlo Park Mall in Jersey, where I was growing up, it was a treat for those of us who were kids, because so many of us, including myself, loved pancakes.  I still recall my 9th birthday when my cousins, friends and I were taken to a children's show at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and then, by my choice, to IHOP, to eat.  Only, I remember calling it simply "The Pancake House."  This was where my friend, Doug--now deceased--poured every single flavor syrup on his pancakes, ate them, then got sick while playing on the merry-go-round in Roosevelt Park.  Back then, I was puzzled; today, I wonder if this was a foreshadowing of something.

                                  Now, the establishment is going to change its name to IHOB, the last word standing for "burgers."  I hope this means they are not going to eliminate pancakes from the menu.  Burger places are a dime a dozen; many have come and gone.  I love Burger King's joke that they are going to call their place "Pancake King."  It's the flip side of the same coin.

                                   IHOP goes back to when I was kid, so we are talking at least fifty years; most likely more.  If, as I fear, they are going to go from pancakes to burgers, how can they succeed?  What do they offer to bring to the table that is so different from other burger franchises.  There are less places to get special order pancakes; why risk failure?????????????????

                                     I don't know who made this decision, but it is a bad one. If IHOB is burgers only, it will surely fail.  And another piece of Boomer history consigned to dust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     I mean, one of my favorite children's books was "The Runaway Pancake!!!!"