- published: 04 Jan 2016
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IHOP, formerly known as The International House of Pancakes, is a United States–based restaurant chain that specializes in breakfast foods. It is owned by DineEquity, with 99% of the restaurants run by independent franchisees.
While IHOP's focus is on breakfast foods such as pancakes, French toast and omelettes, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items.
The chain has more than 1,500 restaurants in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Jerry Lapin, Al Lapin, and Albert Kallis founded IHOP in 1958 with the help of Sherwood Rosenberg and William Kaye. The first restaurant opened on July 7, 1958 at 4301 Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California. The original concept was a restaurant which featured various types of pancakes and similar foods such as crepes and blintzes from all over the world, offered at affordable prices. The chain was also notable (and still is to this day) for their syrups of several different flavors. The menu later expanded (especially in the 1980s) to include (along with breakfast foods) standard lunch and dinner items found in similar restaurant chains such as Denny's. IHOP was owned at one time by a parent holding company which also owned the Orange Julius refreshment stands seen in shopping malls, but that was sold off by the mid-1970s.
Matthew "Matt" Guion Maher (born November 10, 1974) is a contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist, songwriter, and worship leader originally from Newfoundland, Canada, who later relocated to Tempe, Arizona. He has written and produced five solo albums to date. Three of his albums have reached the Top 25 Christian Albums Billboard chart and four of his singles have reached the Top 25 Christian Songs chart. He is a practising Catholic.
Maher was born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada. His parents recognized his musical talent, and he grew up taking piano lessons and immersing himself in a broad variety of music and playing in concert and jazz ensembles, singing in a choir, and playing in a garage rock band.
Maher received a scholarship from the Jazz Department at Arizona State University, where he studied Jazz Piano and got his music degree. He paid for his first three years of college by playing piano in a hotel.
Matt currently lives in Tempe, Arizona. He is involved in building community at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish. He married Kristin Fisher on September 10, 2010. Their son, Michael Conor, was born on August 1, 2011.