Meat+Poultry - August 2019 - GB - 16

FO O DS E RV ICE R OUNDUP

The new Steakburger lineup joins IHOP's
other burger offerings, including The Classic,
The Classic with Bacon, Mega Monster, Cowboy
BBQ, The Big Brunch and Jalapeño Kick.

WHATABURGER EXPANSION

2019 GROUND BEEF TRENDS + TECHNOLOGY MEAT+ POULTRY

IHOP (top) and
Whataburger (above)
are innovating burger
marketing efforts and
restructuring leadership
roles to keep customers
coming back for more.

sion plan, we decided the time was right to promote new leadership to carry the company forward," Atkinson said. "This leadership team has
the right combination of Whataburger core values, strategic vision and people-centered leadership to take us into the future."
All positions named to Whataburger's leadership team were internal promotions and will be
effective July 1.
Ed Nelson, currently the company's CFO and
controller, will be promoted to president. Nelson
joined Whataburger in 2004 as controller and

IHOP; Whataburger

that include the Black Angus beef pancakes
made from all-natural 100 percent USDA choice.
The first is the Big IHOP Pancake (Burger),
which features a buttermilk pancake stuck in
between two Steakburger patties. The burger is
topped with American cheese, hickory-smoked
bacon and house-made IHOP sauce.
The Garlic Butter Pancake (Burger) is topped
with house made Gilroy garlic butter, hickorysmoked bacon, white cheddar cheese, lettuce,
tomato, onion and mayo atop its Black Angus
beef patties.
Finally, the Loaded Philly Pancake (Burger)
features sautéed onions and peppers and covered
with melted white cheddar cheese and cheddar
cheese sauce to go with the Steakburger patties.
"When we launched our new Ultimate
Steakburgers last year, what better way to show
the world that we take our burgers as seriously
as we take our pancakes than by announcing
that we'd be changing our name to IHOb ...
temporarily," said Brad Haley, chief marketing
officer at IHOP. "That was hard for a lot of
people to accept since they'd always known
IHOP primarily as the breakfast and pancake
place, so they took to social media to tell us -
often in no uncertain terms - to stay in our lane
and stick to pancakes."
Haley also admitted that it hopes that the latest push to change IHOP's branding of burgers
will garner attention on social media again.
"There were over 3.3 million tweets about
#IHOb last year, and some of them weren't very
nice," Haley said. "So, our lead creative agency,
Droga5, created a digital experience to engage last
year's naysayers and convert haters into eaters."

BDT Capital Partners LLC has agreed to acquire a
majority interest in Whataburger through its affiliated funds. The merchant bank, which specializes
in family and founder-led companies, will partner with Whataburger's leadership team to begin
exploring expansion plans.
The transaction is expected to close later
this summer and is subject to customary regulatory and other conditions, the company said.
Additional terms were not disclosed.
The new partnership isn't the only change
coming to Whataburger. Several tenured leaders within the company have been elevated to
the core leadership team as president and CEO
Preston Atkinson and board chairman Tom
Dobson retire from the company's day-to-day
operations.
"As the brand embarks on a growth and expan-

Meat+Poultry - August 2019

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