Leave it to IHOP to reinvent the breakfast pizza—and leave it to the pizza restaurant industry to support the effort on National Pizza Day.
OK, "reinvent" might be an overstatement. To be honest, the Pancizza isn’t really a pizza at all, but it's one heck of a publicity stunt.
“Precisely what makes it a pizza/pancake mashup is a bit dubious,” Food and Wine notes. “If you were hoping for a marinara and mozzarella-topped pancake crust cooked in a pizza oven, you’ll be sadly disappointed. Instead, these mashups are simply pizza-sized pancakes—presented in a pizza box, of course—ready to be served in slices.
IHOP Restaurants unveiled the Pancizza (pronounced Pan-Keet-Za), a limited-time-only menu item that pays homage to the world’s greatest food, pizza, with one of the most popular breakfast dishes—pancakes. And New York City's Bleecker Street Pizza helped promote it to the world by letting IHOP take over on Saturday and set up a “pancizzeria.” Visitors received a free slice of Pancizza in flavors that included Original Buttermilk, Bacon and Cheddar, and Cupcake, along with a variety of signature syrups.
The items were also available for delivery through DoorDash from select IHOP locations in Chicago, Dallas, New York and Los Angeles from February 8-10.
“IHOP has a lot of milestones to celebrate with our delivery program and our largest delivery partner, DoorDash, so what better way to do that than to join in on the National Pizza Day fun with our very own pancake-pizza creation, Pancizza?” said Brad Haley, IHOP’s Chief Marketing Officer, in a press release. “After all, pizza was one of the first and still the biggest ‘circle in a box’ take-out and delivery items in America so, naturally, we thought that we could do our very own IHOP pancakeified version."
Haley said the Bacon and Cheddar Pancizza was his favorite, with “just the right amount of sweetness from the pancake ‘dough’ to complement the savory bacon and cheddar toppings.”
To support the campaign, IHOP also produced a short social film that pays tribute to classic pizza commercials. Fans could also purchase a limited-edition Pancizza t-shirt from the PancakeWear Collection at Bleecker Street Pizza or online at shoppancakewear.com.
The Pancizza, created in collaboration with the brand’s creative agency, Droga5, also marked another milestone for IHOP. The company recently surpassed 1,000 IHOP restaurants offering online ordering and delivery through DoorDash. IHOP announced its national delivery partnership with DoorDash in mid-2018, a first for the brand, in celebration of its 60th anniversary. The number of participating IHOP restaurants available on DoorDash has tripled in six months, IHOP says.
“Our national partnership with DoorDash has been instrumental in helping us grow our IHOP ‘N GO online ordering business,” Haley added. “As a leading online ordering and delivery provider, they have the reach and trusted reputation to get more pancakes to our guests, wherever and whenever that ‘pancraving’ hits."
