Applebee's perks up its loyalty program with an emphasis on exclusivity
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Dine Brands is expanding Applebee's loyalty program and improving operations at IHOP as it works to elevate CX throughout the business, executives of the parent company said on a Q1 2025 earnings call last week.
The Club Applebee's loyalty program reached 8.5 million members during the quarter, according to John Peyton, CEO of Dine Brands and interim president of Applebee's. The restaurant will focus on exclusive offerings and third-party partnerships to build on this momentum.
The introduction of on-table tablets at IHOP improved speed of service and time between seating new customers by two minutes, according to Lawrence Kim, president of IHOP.
Dine Brands is exploring experience, value and communication in tandem as it works to help its two biggest businesses find growth.
Applebee's reported a domestic same-restaurant sales decline of 2.2% year over year for the first quarter of 2025, according to a company earnings report. IHOP reported a domestic same-restaurant sales decline of 2.7% during the same period.
One way Applebee's aims to improve its performance is through Club Applebee's, which has existed in a somewhat benign state for the past several years, according to Peyton. Now, the restaurant chain will innovate to grow the share of customers that visit three or more times per year.
Applebee's launched its loyalty push in February by making its Date Night Pass contest exclusive to Club Applebee's members, according to Peyton. The promotion, which let 3,000 winners purchase a $100 pass that provides $50 discounts for 12 visits, drove 175,000 loyalty program sign-ups.
'Providing early or exclusive access to new products and promotions is a key component of our loyalty strategy,' Peyton said during the call. 'We'll continue to leverage Applebee's strong brand relevance and tap into insights from IHOP's loyalty program to enhance the Club Applebee's platform and its offerings.'
Though Club Applebee's will take some learnings from IHOP's International Bank of Pancakes, Applebee's will ultimately chart its own course, according to Peyton. International Bank of Pancakes is a points-based loyalty program, while Club Applebee's will make special privileges and offers its core benefit.
'So it's all around enabling them to be much more of insiders and to grow our share of those guests that visit us three or more times a year,' Peyton said.
While Applebee's is aiming at loyalty as an experience driver, IHOP is turning to its in-restaurant operations. The restaurant chain wants to make its locations cleaner while simplifying procedures and looking at ingredients to improve speed for everyone involved.
Initiatives include reducing the number of steps for food preparation. For example, IHOP will aim to cut the procedure for a dish with 17 steps by 10% to 20%, according to Kim. The company is also testing revised training procedures, including the use of short-form videos instead of traditional methods.
'This is a key focus of our operations team, just because we want to enhance not just the consumer experience and the guest experience in restaurants, but also we want to amplify and enhance and ease our team member experience as well,' Kim said during the call.
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