Douglas Goldner sits among the cartons, the contractors and the job applicants, and knows that when IHOP opens on Jan. 27, the place is going to be jumping.
“It’s not something we can hide with all the people driving by,” Goldner said.”We’re really excited to be a part of the Meriden-Wallingford community.”
This is the third IHOP for Goldner and his father Neal, who operate other restaurants in Orange and North Haven.
Douglas Neal Restaurants LLC was told about the opportunity, and liked the traffic numbers and accessibility from the highways. The partnership built the new restaurant on the same strip of North Colony Road that has welcomed a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, a BJ’s Warehouse Club and an Applebee’s restaurant in recent years. IHOP shares a roadway with BJ’s and there is a People’s Bank drive-through on the same site. Parking is spacious, with overflow capacity at BJ’s.
IHOP is an acronym for International House of Pancakes, which adopted the initials in the 1970s. IHOP is a subsidiary of DineEquity Inc. of Glendale, Calif., which also owns Applebee’s. The company is publicly traded and reported $484 million in 2007 sales, according to Hoovers.com. Read full article.
Photo: Johnathon Henninger / Record-Journal.