Pancake King? National chains troll IHOb's name change
IHOP, or IHOb, announced their name change promotion on Monday and the world was like, "huh?"
The pancake-slash-now-burger chain got some snark online from their competitors, new and old. Burger King, Wendy's, Waffle House, Denny's and other took shots at IHOP for the promotion.
Burger King trolled the IHOb name change by changing their name - at least on Twitter - to "Pancake King."
And they got some reaction:
sorry, old Burger King can't come to the phone right now...
" Pancake King (@BurgerKing) June 11, 2018
IHOB: Hey BK... what's up?! I have some questions about burgers Burger King: New phone, who dis? pic.twitter.com/33KTFLcU9f
" JJ Ross (@JJRossReaders) June 11, 2018
Wendy's - a burger joint - posted a tweet comparing the name change to acting like a child:
Remember when you were like 7 and thought changing your name to Thunder BearSword would be super cool? Like that, but our cheeseburgers are still better.
" Wendy's (@Wendys) June 11, 2018
And then saying pancakes are easier than burgers:
Can't wait to try a burger from the place that decided pancakes were too hard.
" Wendy's (@Wendys) June 11, 2018
IHOb responded:
We don't want any beef with you, we just want to share our beef with the world
" IHOb (@IHOb) June 11, 2018
And the skirmish was resolved:
Welcome to the neighborhood
" Wendy's (@Wendys) June 11, 2018
A&W Restaurants, know for burgers and root beer floats, got a little snarky with their response:
Inspired by the International House of Burgers announcement, we are also changing our name (Please do not ask what it means — we don't know either.) pic.twitter.com/0HPQtQirHn
" A&W Restaurants (@awrestaurants) June 11, 2018
Waffle House for its part is sticking with waffles:
Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity. - Bruce Lee
" Waffle House (@WaffleHouse) June 11, 2018
No worries here...
" Waffle House (@WaffleHouse) June 11, 2018
Whataburger (a burger chain mainly in the South and Southwest) is sticking with burgers, though they have pancakes too:
As much as we love our pancakes, we'd never change our name to Whatapancake
" Whataburger® (@Whataburger) June 11, 2018
Denny's made a different cultural reference:
: Grandpa, do you remember the Great Burger Wars? : lol no I was chillin drinkin milkshakes and trying to make sense of Westworld
" Denny's (@DennysDiner) June 11, 2018
IHOP has been coy about whether the name flip is permanent, saying Monday that it was "for the time being." Pressed for details, the company would not give an end date for IHOb according to the Associated Press, but referred to the "tongue-in-cheek name change" and said it was tied to the summer burger promotion.
The name change can be seen as a success in terms of social media reach, as many people are talking about it, or at least making snarky comments about it.
