"franchise restaurants" news and stories

All of the numbers in this New York Times piece give me an Excedrin headache, but what it comes down to is this: IHOP just bought Applebee's for around $1.9 billion.

IHOP's CEO is a former president at Applebee's, so I guess they're keeping it in the family.

Here's where the numbers come in: IHOP is going to sell (and then lease back) Applebee's 508 restaurants, to help reduce any debt. IHOP thinks that the restaurants that have been open at least a year and a half will increase sales by 2 to 3%, compared to a 4% drop last quarter. In the stock market yesterday, IHOP closed up at $61.24 and Applebee's closed up at $24.91.