Lounge ihop pricing themselves out of market

Wife had a day off mon so we left reno yesterday, and stopped off on a monday morning at Ihop(weekends are just too packed). There are a few choices for breakfast other than the casino buffets.
Small chain ..blackbear diner.....chain..mels diner......chain..dennys....and ihOP....all good choices for breakfast.

But ihop seems to be far more pricey for no apparent reason...since the quality and service at the other places is similar.

Wife had a veggie omelette -12 dollars......and I had a BLTand fries....11 dollars.

With the veggie omelette you can pick ONE of the sides...toast, hashbrowns, 2pancakes. At the other places hash browns or country potatoes and toast is the included combo. At Ihop, for that combo its 2 dollars more. So the omelette was 14 dollars compared to the most expensive omelette at Dennys(meat lovers)....being 10 dollars with hashbrowns and toast included.
So with 2 soft drinks...29 dollars....5 dollar tip...........34 dollars for a simple breakfast.(mine was more of a lunch and cost alot less...if i got the samr breakfast it would have been39 dollars)

I would think that for an average family, Ihop for breakfast is a "special occasion" type deal.

the Ihop was in reno..so I cant blame it on california cost of living.

 

I like searching online for "locals" joints, places that typically aren't a chain, are busy, have good food, and which get good reviews.

I've avoided I-Hop for many years, "just because."

Back in the day I ate a truck stops, and I wasn't a trucker (but I did listen to the Grateful Dead).

"Not all who wander are lost."

 

Local diners for me are great for their own versions of meatloaf, country fried steak, ..even masked potatoes ....and of course baked goods,

But for a a couple of fucking eggs..,, its pretty safe to say iHOP isnt 40-50percent better than even dennys.....and therefore isnt worth paying 40-50 percent more.

In this case...I agree....a local diner would have been just fine...and they dont nickle and dime you to pay for "extras".

I have a theory about chains......I call it "the rule of 10,000". If a mom and pop restaurant gives you 2 pickle spears with your sandwich....there is no financial reason for them to ever reduce it to one.

But if mcdonalds gives you 2 slices of pickles on a burger...and reduces it to 1.....they can save 2 million. Its the rule of 10k....just multiple the savings by 10 thousand stores. In the case of mcdonalds..its way more than 10k stores..but you get the picture.

So some accountant at ihop(who has 1600 stores) decided they can make an extra xxx dollars if they charge extra for toast.
Although the stores are independently owned.....ihop corp gets a cut. So multiply all extra dollars by 1600...and you have some nice change.

With a mom and pop diner..the savings is minimal..and charging someone for 2 slices of bread and butter seems petty. But people seem to accept this type of behavior from big corporatons.

 

I found the biggest difference between chains and small, locals breakfast joints is in their potatoes.

I do love my spuds.