Dine Brands to accelerate IHOP pancake unit expansion in India - new perkins breakfast restaurant dish1

May 1 (Reuters)-
The owner of the chain restaurant Applebee, Dine Brands Group, plans to accelerate the pace of opening an IHOP pancake store in India, which has received a strong response after opening its first restaurant in the northern Indian city of guluk last year.
Steve Joyce, chief executive of the company, told Reuters that the expansion was part of a strategy to expand the market.
"We think IHOP has a unique opportunity here because breakfast is an important meal in India, and Joyce visited India's second IHOP store in a shopping mall in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
Joyce had previously planned to open 20 IHOPs in India by 2025, and is now expected to open 15 IHOP stores in the next three to four years, and grow it to hundreds in at least seven years.
A source close to the company said that India's first IHOP branch had "exceeded" the company's expectations and had started to make profits eight months after its opening, the person who asked not to be named because the details were kept secret
In India, breakfast is a food traditionally prepared and consumed at home, but with more than half of India's population under 30 years old, this trend is changing as disposable income increases, people prefer to eat out.
This shift helped make breakfast one of the fastest
Growing categories of meals in the Indian catering industry.
In 2016, 14% of Indians ate breakfast at least three to four times a week outside of home, compared to nine times.
According to a survey by market research firm Euromonitor international's Global Consumer Trends division, it was 6% in 2015.
In the growing market, companies including McDonald's have launched products such as masala dosa brioche
A daily serving of a major South Indian breakfast dish called masala dosa was combined in the burger --style serving.
Analysts at the Dine brand said that at a time when IHOP North American sales had stabilized, developing India could be the company's growth driver
Low-level single digit
Single digits in the past few years.
However, configuring its dishes to Indian tastes that usually prefer salty instead of sweet will be the biggest challenge for IHOP.
"India is a huge potential market, but the right menu mix can be tricky," said Ken Perkins, founder of research firm Retail Metrics . ". (
Supplementary Report of Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore;
Edit Sriraj Kalluvila)