Hey, thanks, everyone, for joining us. We're here with the full team from Dine Brands. We got Lawrence Kim, we got Vance, we got Matt, we got John. So welcome, everybody. You know, maybe we'll just start off, discuss the, you know, the key drivers as we look out into 2026. You know, what do you see as the key drivers for both brands, Applebee's and IHOP? And, you know, how do you believe your brands are positioned from a competitive standpoint?
Thanks. Good morning, Eric. I'll talk generally in a little bit about Applebee's, and then Lawrence will fill in for IHOP. You know, in terms of the big picture, the macro, and sort of what the guest is thinking, and what our guest in particular is thinking, who is in that sweet spot of $50,000-$75,000 a year in household income, is that value still matters. You know, it's mattered now for a year and a half, and we expect in 2026 that our guest is going to be looking for value. But the definition of value has changed over the last couple of quarters. You know, it started about a year and a half ago when inflation really kicked in, where guests wanted to know the full cost of the meal.
And that's when you started to see all of the burger, fries, and a soda for $10, $11, $12. But what we're seeing now, in addition to that, as we do our guest intercepts and all of our research, is they're equally focused on what they're calling the vibe. And that's literally a word that they're using over and over again in what they say to us. And their point of view is, you know, when I make a decision to leave my house to eat, which is a big decision these days, given how they're feeling about the economy and their own personal situation.
I not only want great value in terms of good food and abundant portion at a great price, I want to be served and entertained and taken care of in a fresh, clean, fun restaurant. And so that's the big picture. At Applebee's specifically, you know, our reflection of that is the 2 for $25 value platform that we have. It's two entrées and an appetizer for $25 or $12.50 per person. That's easy math to do. You know, and that is a great value. And that's what we will be communicating as our primary platform throughout 2026, as we did the back half of 2025.
And to keep it fresh and top of mind, each quarter we'll introduce a new entree and a new app so that we've got the innovative and the what's new piece as well. And Lawrence, I'll turn to you for IHOP.
Yeah, thanks, John. Yeah, similar for IHOP, you know, there are three key areas that we focus on this year, and those will extend into 2026 as well, which is great food, no question, you know, our world-famous pancakes, our innovation. You know, we have a pantry of over 1,000 items that we can pull from that, you know, are exciting innovation and part of our roadmap. And then great service, which, you know, we've dedicated a lot of time to focusing on our operations, improving our speed. You know, our cleanliness of our restaurants and what we call High Hospitality. But as John just alluded to, is this anchor on value as well.
And so we launched House Faves, which was our $6 value menu last October in 2024. That was a Monday- Friday program. And then we've evolved that, you know, because based on consumer research, and I'm in restaurants pretty much every week, travel all across the country and talk to guests. That $6 price point, you know, it's one of the guests even said it's cheaper to go to IHOP than it is to make this at home at $6. And so that's been a very core strategic insight that we've just been anchored on. And we evolved the platform this past September to go to everyday value in partnership with our franchisees. And we're going to continue into that into 2026.
Yeah. And Eric, you know, the fact that IHOP has beat Black Box, you know, its comp set in traffic all year and posted absolute positive traffic gains in the third quarter, which it hasn't done in years and years. And Applebee's has had positive comps the last couple of quarters. They're no accident, right? It's because of the focus on this new definition of value and the experience in the restaurants that we are certain is driving the stronger results this year.
I'm going to ask two follow-up questions from something you said, John, about, you know, 2 for $25 being the core platform. I think it was a couple of quarters ago you talked about, just correct me if I'm wrong, but my memory, I thought you were talking about maybe going more towards the individual. Like, how do you cater to that individual guy that comes in by himself or doesn't want to order on the 2 for $25?
Yeah.
Lawrence, on the IHOP side, you know, the $6 value menu, I always go back to this, like, independent diners are so expensive. Like, it is so much more expensive to get an omelet at a diner. It could be $20, $20-plus dollars. So I, you know, IHOP is such a good value. So, you know, is this just about communicating that value in a more effective way? So maybe two different questions there, but just related to what you guys just talked about.
Sure. Well, go ahead, Lawrence. You're on a roll. Let's start with IHOP.
All right. Yeah, so you're right. You know, the great part of our menu is value is one component. And when we first launched House Faves last October, you know, our value incidence was higher. It's around 30% of our checks. And, you know, because it resonated extremely well, right? I mean, we just talked about it. How amazing is a $6 item, which is, you know, two pancakes, two bacon, two eggs, and we have three other dishes that come along with that as well. But, you know, we were strategically focused on our barbell strategy and looking at our menu innovation, you know, tied to our other core products, like our omelets, like our breakfast combos.
And that value incidence actually has gone down to around 15%, so half, as we've launched everyday value, which is, you know, part of the strategy and the core. But the beautiful part about our menu and our offerings is that we have that balance. It's not just one price point for all items. That balance across our menu and our scope is a clear strategic priority for us and in partnership with our franchisees. But we want to provide our guests, especially in these uncertain times, with that consistent, and I like to say our distinctive value. You know, I think it's the best in the biz in our category. And right now, our guests are just loving it.
So we're going to continue to evolve and amplify how we bring that messaging to life. If you haven't seen our current ad, because it's all over the place right now, it's fantastic. It's like this dream state, this blissful state of, you know, pancakes and breakfast offerings. It just stands out from the competition. Our creative team is already looking at the next evolution of that, and it's super exciting.
I mean, it's fair to say, Lawrence, you're using the $6 promotion to drive guests into the restaurant. Once they get there, everything you put in front of them from a tabletop display collateral perspective is high-priced, full-margin items.
That's right. We like to say we shove value from the mountaintops, get them into the restaurants, as John mentioned, you know, traffic's, you know, just improving every quarter. And to get them in, you know, and, you know, some will wear the value, but they see all the other items out there, and they're tempted, and, you know, they're loving them.
Yeah. And Eric, to your point about Applebee's, we decided to lead with 2 for $25 because when you look at what's in the marketplace and at literally QSR, fast casual, and full-service dining, the categories we compete in, the overwhelming majority of what's being promoted right now is some version of, right, a burger, a soda, and fries. And so we think the 2 for $25 is unique and breaks through in that regard. It's also consistent with Applebee's longtime message about being, you know, a place, a date night place, and a place for groups to go.
That said, we also have, and we launched earlier this year, the Ultimate Trio, which is choosing three apps from out of 10, three sauces out of 10. They're slightly smaller portions. When you put that all together, it functions as an entree. We see that many singles are using that platform, which is great. Yes, we're continuing to look at a quote one for, and we will have news there early next year.
I was thinking about, like, being the third wheel, you know, and being like an odd table if you're 2 for $25.
The hope is that the third wheel buys the steak.
Right. Yeah, I guess so. Or Ultimate Trio.
Right. Exactly.
What is the experience of the Ultimate Trio? It feels a lot like the Triple Dipper, but it is a few bucks cheaper. So, you know.
It's a few bucks cheaper. And what's unique about it is the choice, right? And so there's over 80,000 combinations between those three appetizers and three sauces. And it's literally designed based upon what we know about how young people like to eat, right? They like to customize their food. They like to share their food. They want it to be innovative and trendy in some way. And they want to be able to photograph it. And it's literally designed for that. And the 80,000 combinations and what's your combination, right, is literally designed for social media and for them to share their combos.
I want to maybe take a step back and just think about the casual dining industry. And I recognize that your brands have been outperforming on various metrics in their respective categories. But full service is actually having a little bit of a moment here. It's undeniable. So, you know, why do you think that is? And, you know, how can you sort of maximize, you know, your share of that moment as maybe it's consumers kind of looking away from fast food, as it's got this perception that it's gotten too expensive, and you're providing a service and a, you know, just a better value in a full-service meal? You know, how much longer can these good times continue to roll on?
I think there's two parts to what's happened now. The first one you alluded to, which is the price of fast food, right? The $18 Big Mac, you know, in the Northeast was certainly good for us, right? Because as their pricing approaches our pricing, our burger and fries are so much better than what you can get from fast food. You don't have to eat it out of a bag in the car, and you can sit down for 45 minutes or an hour and be served by great people and a great environment and really feel special for an hour, and so that pricing, that price collapse has been certainly helpful in the micro. I think the macro explanation, Eric, it still, after all these years, goes back to COVID.
I think we're finally getting back to that equilibrium that existed for years and years and years and years, which is it took a really long time coming out of COVID, right? Because people were eating QSR and then in fast casual. And human beings are, by our nature, social beings. And we want to be together. And we want to sit down. And we want to celebrate. And we're seeing in 2025 what is sort of normal and what casual and what full-service dining has always been. And I think it's just taken this couple of years to get back here.
Yeah. It certainly feels like it. How do you, what are your expectations for the holiday season? I recognize this isn't, it's not like you're in the retail segment where you have to deal with Black Friday and those sort of, you know, seasonal volatility. But do you have any expectations for the holiday season? Like, the consumer, how do you feel is bearing this season so far?
Yeah. From the data that we look at, and I know that you and many listening to this call look at data as well, you know, particularly for our guest, right, who's earning in this $50,000-plus range, the fall has gotten a little bit slower, you know, across multiple retail categories. And we're seeing that too. You know, we're not economists, but our interpretation of that is as we head into the holidays and guests continue and consumers continue to feel the pinch on their wallets, right, because of their perception of the economy, they're making choices between buying gifts and going bowling or going out to a bar, going out to a restaurant.
And so I think that's a little bit of the softness that you see this fall. And we expect it to strengthen again once we get past the holidays.
Do you have any expectations for some of the stimulus that's coming? Like, how does, you know, no tax on tips and maybe the $40,000 SALT deduction, like, how does that impact your consumer? I'm assuming the $40,000 thing is probably more of a higher-end luxury than some of your lower-income consumers. But maybe the no tax on tips is a big deal because that money gets spent in the restaurants and small indulgences. How are you thinking about that?
It's definitely a tailwind, right? So it should be helpful. And even the $40,000 mortgage deduction, we saw in the last couple of quarters a greater percentage of our guests who are earning $100,000 and above, right? And that's a sign, too, that the economy is, they're feeling the pinch as well. And the reason why our brands overperformed is because we gained more 100,000-plussers than we lost, you know, 50,000 and less at the bottom. So I think it's, I think other than the fact that we think it's a tailwind, it's awfully hard to predict because I think many Americans don't realize what they're going to, what's coming in the tax package. And so it's going to be very real-time.
Yeah. We've talked a lot about check management, too. That's been a topic that's come up on your conference calls. So, you know, do you think that trend's gotten worse over time, or are you starting to see any, you know, normalizing there?
Yeah. I think in general, I think, Vance, you can address that for both brands, right?
Yeah. Eric, in terms of check management, we are seeing our guests managing their check as they have been for the past few quarters. The PMIX of that check has been down. But check overall, it's been fairly steady because, you know, sort of the low, moderate menu inflation has sort of offset the negative PMIX. So that sort of made sure that the check average has been fairly consistent for both of our brands. Up and down a little bit, but it's not something that we're worried about.
Got it. Maybe we'll pivot to your, our favorite topic, the dual-brand strategy. For those who aren't familiar, maybe you could touch on that and just your expectations. I know it's only, what is it, one? How many do you have now? One or two?
20 are open in the U.S.
Oh, 20. Sorry. I know you had the one in Texas, but you could talk about the early read on that and why you think this is such a good opportunity for the brands.
Sure. Thank you. So we have. I'll define it in a moment, but first, the numbers. We have 40 dual brands open outside the U.S. We have 20 open now in the U.S., on the way to 30 by the end of the year. And we've stated that we see a path toward at least another 50 next year. So it'll be a total of 80 in the U.S. And the concept is an Applebee's and an IHOP in the same box. And so anyone who has the time, you can go to our IR website at dinebrands.com. We've got a great video that really shows you the inside and the outside of the restaurant. And it's really helpful to see it, to understand it. But the outside is co-branded. There's one front door. You walk in, and you're seated by a greeter.
Imagine generally the blue side of the restaurant for IHOP and the red side for Applebee's, and they blend together in the middle. It's one all-day dining menu that starts at breakfast and ends at dinner. There's 105 items on that menu, which is the same number of items that we have at an individual IHOP or an individual Applebee's. So we've taken the best of both brands and put them together. We also have only available at the dual brands a half a dozen mash-up items. So you can get Buffalo Chicken Omelets at the dual brands.
So the Applebee's boneless chicken and an IHOP omelet, which has already become the best-selling omelet at the dual brands. Cross-trained back-of-house, cross-trained front-of-house. Most importantly, what we're seeing when an Applebee's adds an IHOP or an IHOP adds an Applebee's, that they are increasing their revenue by one and a half to two and a half times. They're increasing, and the flow of that incremental revenue to profit is about three times the margin of the restaurant before. We think this is a big idea, Eric, for several reasons. One is it's transforming the economics of the box for the franchisee.
The guest feedback has been terrific, both sort of from traditional feedback about, "I love having the ability to order from both menus." From a social media perspective, right, the young folk are having a really good time talking about, "Is it Apple HOP or is it, you know, IHOPplebee's?" It's none of those things. It's Applebee's and IHOP under one roof. For Dine Brands, it's a big fuel and catalyst for our growth of new units. We're the only company that happens to own a premier AM brand and a premier PM brand and can put them together. This is all about complementary dayparts and not having dayparts that conflict with one another as others have tried in the past.
The last thing I'll say is, you know, we look at the country, we run our analysis, we see 900 opportunities for dual brands over the next decade or so. Of those 900, Eric, 450 are, call it, white space, meaning there's no Applebee's and there's no IHOP. So an existing franchisee or a new one can come in and build a restaurant. We also see 450 opportunities with our existing restaurants to add an IHOP or add an Applebee's.
Those can be done without having to worry about the territory of, you know, an adjacent brand. Applebee's adding an IHOP, they can do it free and clear because there's no IHOP near them. It's a big opportunity. Based upon just the pipeline that I shared, you know, franchisees are excited about it and are moving pretty assertively into that space.
Is there talk about the difference between adding an IHOP to an Applebee's or adding an Applebee's to an IHOP?
Yeah. So if an Applebee's adds an IHOP, the cost to the franchisee is about $750,000-$1 million, you know, and they'll drive a $1 million-plus in additional revenue. So that's a three-year or less payback, which is excellent. If it's an IHOP adding an Applebee's, it's more expensive. It's $1 million-$1.25 million. And the difference is the IHOP has to add the bar, right? So you got the plumbing, the electric, the equipment that already existed in an Applebee's. And same thing, when you add the Applebee's, you actually add a little bit more revenue. And so they too have about a three-year payback.
Sorry. It was how much more? I didn't catch that.
$750-$1 million for an Applebee's to add an IHOP.
IHOP, yeah.
$1 million-$1.25 million for an IHOP to add an Applebee's because of the added expenses of the bar.
There's the liquor license and all that other stuff too, I would imagine.
Yes. Yes. Which those are all, those are one-time costs and things like that. But what's interesting is it enables IHOPs now to have a boozy brunch menu, right? So they can do mimosas and Bloody Marys using the Applebee's glassware, et cetera. And so our Bloody Mary, you know, with the Mucho Margarita at Applebee's and that gigantic glass is now a Bloody Mary on a Sunday morning at IHOP.
You know, it sounds like if you do this over the next decade, it's going to be really hard to sell one of the brands. They're tied together. You got 900 stores. It's going to be hard to, you know, dismantle Dine Brands, so.
Good thing that's not our plan.
It doesn't sound like it. No, but it really is interesting. Have you done any corporate units? Is this an opportunity for you to do that in some of the company owned stores?
Eric, it is. In fact, we've got two so far, and the plan is to get to about 10 to 12 company-owned dual brands. And the two that we have there in Kentucky, they are doing, you know, sort of north of two times in sales and early days. And still a lot of fine-tuning we need to do, but they're performing above our expectation. We're really happy with the results.
Do you have to shut down if you were to add on like an IHOP to an Applebee's? Do you have to shut down the Applebee's fully?
You do. You do.
This is like a complete remodel?
Yeah. It's a gut renovation. You got to redo the whole thing. And so part of the reason why we saw some noise with company restaurants is the construction with dual brands and construction with our remodeling both require full shutdowns.
Okay. And are there any other costs or just the cost consistent with just adding the volume that you would expect? Like, is the extra, you know, million dollars in sales the same as if an Applebee's just grew that organically, or is there other costs that we should think about?
No, I think it's primarily, if you think about it, right, it's the same brand, same labor, as John mentioned, so the flow through, the reason why is so much higher than normal four-wall margin from a new opening of a regular restaurant is because you're just leveraging the fixed cost that much better. It's mostly your gross margin that's flowing through, right, and so that's why the math is we're changing sort of the algorithm of the unit economics for our restaurants, for our franchisees.
But maybe some upfront training costs and things like that.
There's some training costs with any restaurants, and then doing construction, right, so if the restaurants are, at least the way we're doing it, the different franchisees may have different perspectives on this. For the company-owned restaurants, when the restaurants are closed, we don't let go of the team. We keep the team, and so making sure that they're trained while the restaurant is down, and so that when the restaurant is ready to open, they're back right away versus have to re-recruit the whole team from scratch, you know, so that's sort of this hidden cost that you have to bear in the meantime during construction.
Are there any just sort of interesting insights around consumer behavior when they're in a dual-brand restaurant versus like the restaurant that was there before? Like, are people getting pancakes all day? Are that were typically, you know, your regulars that would come in for a steak, now they're getting pancakes or vice versa? Or just anything that surprised you that you're seeing with the experiment?
Yeah, a couple of things come to mind. The first surprise was we assumed that based upon the reason they were going out to eat, right, whether it was day part or breakfast or dinner, that guests would prefer or indicate, "I want to sit on the Applebee's side or the IHOP side." We're seeing that's not the case. The restaurant's beautiful, and they're happy to sit on either side because they had access to the full menu.
You know, in terms of behavior, what's interesting, Eric, is the off-period brand, so think IHOP at night and Applebee's in the morning, never sells less than 15%. So to your point, at 10:30 A.M., we're selling a lot of pancakes and omelets, but we're also selling ribs and burgers from the Applebee's portion of the menu, and the reverse is true at night.
Never less than 15% of the total mix.
Correct. Of the mix during that day part, and the other thing that's compelling about it is the overall dayparts are very evenly distributed, so if you think breakfast/lunch, breakfast/lunch and then dinner/late night, it's about a third, a third, a third, and so it's very good for the operators because they have a consistent approach to staffing and scheduling when you see the business fall that way.
I would be more concerned of the trade down to pancakes than I would the trade up to steak. I guess that's something you need to manage.
Well, you know, IHOP has always been open for dinner 24/7. So we continue to sell, and we've always sold pancakes and omelets at dinner at IHOP. That's what we lean into.
Yeah. I guess that makes sense. Okay. Maybe just pivoting to just the overall, the macros here again. The commodity basket, let me talk about what your expectations are for the rest of this year. And then as we look out into next year, you know, I was on with Brinker yesterday. We were talking about the Brazil premium rolling off. I don't know if that's going to be a little bit of a relief, a pressure release for you guys, but does that impact your franchisees' P&L at all?
Yeah. I mean, look, Eric, the rest of this year is already over. So, you know, for this year, things are definitely more stabilized for our franchisees. You know, the three baskets, the three items that are sort of close lookout for us is eggs, coffee, and beef. You know, that's the same across the whole industry. We will have more details next year as we provide guidance for 2026. But so far, we're sort of expecting, you know, next year to not be meaningfully different than this year. Tariffs aside, we're looking at low- to mid-single-digit sort of inflation environment for our market baskets. And it's really back to normal. Fingers crossed, you know.
The tariff, do you have a lot of exposure to Brazil? You said it was coffee, eggs, and beef. Those are where the Brazil tariffs impact you. I guess this is more of a benefit relative to your prior expectations. Is that a?
Yeah. I mean, it is a fluid situation. So, you know, in the past sort of six months, it's gone good guys to bad guys to good guys again. So.
Yeah. I mean, coffee in particular is helpful with the Brazil tariffs being relieved. But big picture, Eric, and Vance, make sure I get this right, about 85% of what we procure, 85%-90% of what we procure of goods and services into the restaurants, whether it's food or paper products, et cetera, is from the U.S. And of that remaining 10%-15%, more than half is from Mexico and Canada, which, you know, maintain the most favorable tariffs through all of this. And so our exposure to outside the U.S., Mexico, and Canada is fairly minimal. And one of the bigger ones there was coffee in Brazil, which we just got relief on.
Got it. All right. And what are you thinking? Do you have an early read on, you know, franchisee profitability in 2025? I mean, you had decent comps, at least at the Applebee's side, and, you know, certainly improving comps at IHOP. You know, do you expect when you finish out the year that the number is going to be higher than 2024?
We're already seeing that in the past few quarters. Franchisees' financials are improving versus 2024. The biggest part of the driver is just because of comps. You know, comps has been healthier than 2024. But, you know, we also talked about just the restaurant profitability initiatives that we were constantly working on to drive efficiencies out of the four walls of the restaurants in conjunction with the franchisees. And it helps when commodity costs are stabilizing, right? Still expensive. Everything is still expensive, you know, labor and food items. But at least they're more predictable now.
And, you know, so which, you know, is reflected in how franchisees price menu as well. Everything's sort of become more stabilized and back to that low mid-single digit sort of level. When the franchisees feel better about predictability of their menus, of their costs, that translates into pricing, and then that translates into how the consumers see it, right? Hopefully this is a positive trend for us and the consumers going forward.
Great. The off-premises business, you know, this was a big deal during the pandemic, but maybe it's less of an emphasis today. Just what is the status of your off-premises business? And, you know, there were some companies they toyed with virtual brands, and that fad seemed to fade a little bit. But, you know, how are you guys thinking about that opportunity? Is that still a growing part of the business and something you want to allocate resources towards?
Yeah, Lawrence, you want to begin?
Yeah, absolutely. So off-premises is around 20% of the IHOP, you know, overall sales. And, you know, we've been fairly consistent the past few years. But, you know, at the fundamental, you know, angle of it is we want to be where the consumers are. And so, for example, with delivery and off-premises in that channel, you know, as consumers continue to engage with the delivery providers, we're going to be where they are. And so we've actually amplified our programs this year to not just drive more awareness within those off-premises channels, but also just to continue to engage and drive more offerings together with our partners there.
And so we're continuing to amplify. We're continuing to, again, be where our consumers are. Catering is a new part of our platform. And, you know, when you think about the offerings, especially during the breakfast hours, there aren't too many. You think about the same different offerings for breakfast when you go to, like, you know, an event. And so pancakes, you know, and, you know, when we bring our catering items, and it's a bigger focus for us in 2026, it's just a very distinctive offering that only IHOP can provide.
And so that's one of the key areas that we're going to be looking into and amplifying in 2026 as well. But yeah, like I mentioned, we're going to be where the consumers are, and that's one of our focal points.
Pre-COVID, Eric, for both IHOP and Applebee's, off-prem was 7%-9%. And now it's, you know, 20% at IHOP, 22%-23% at Applebee's. What's really interesting about that is that most of that off-premise guest is incremental and are unique to off-prem. And it's a fairly large distinction between them and those who dine in the restaurant. So that's incremental business we didn't have before with a guest that prefers to order out and not come into the restaurant. Applebee's grew off-prem this year 5%. And that wasn't an accident either, right? So internally, we reorganized at the beginning of the year.
We put the loyalty program, CRM, and off-prem under one team and one leader because the common denominator there is the guest data. And so they can, they're working with that as a way to be much more targeted in terms of how we promote and reach out to our guests with special offers and invitations. And we've also changed our strategy. Up until very recently, the nationally advertised campaigns and promotions were not available on our off-prem channels.
We changed that. They now are. So they're benefiting from all of that marketing muscle behind it. And we've gotten better at merchandising and working with the algorithms on the third parties. And so, you know, that's led to a really strong year for us, and we expect it to grow again next year.
So if you have these value platforms on these third-party platforms, I mean, how does the profitability compare, you know, to the franchisee?
The profitability is close to the same because the fees are on top of the cost of the item, right? They're charging the full menu cost, and then there's a delivery fee on top or a Uber Eats fee on top. The difference there is the packaging, right? The to-go packaging. And some restaurants have also added the better restaurants, the better performing restaurants have added staff that just focus on the to-go package and the accuracy of what goes in it.
So it's still, it is a profitable business. And like I said, it's an incremental business. And so it's important business. At Applebee's, that's almost $900 million, which I like to round to a billion and say, you know, that's a billion-dollar business, our off-prem. And it's, you know, equally significant at IHOP.
[crosstalk] At IHOP, our $6 value menu is not available in the delivery channels, and that was an intentional decision that we made with our franchisee partners.
Yeah, that would be really generous of you to sell eggs for $6 and deliver it to my house. I would love it if you would do that. And maybe to close it out, just a quick one on Fuzzy's Taco s. What's the state of the union with that brand? You know, what's the plan and the strategy for kind of nursing that brand back to health and setting it up as a growth vehicle for the future?
That's a fair setup. We are giving it some TLC right now and refining it and reinventing itself. You know, we like it because we wanted to learn more about fast casual and compete in that space. We particularly like the taco space. The Fuzzy's Taco is a Southern California-inspired taco. So it tests well across the country in terms of the ability for national expansion. We've recently put in place a year ago a president/CMO that was one of our best Applebee's marketers. We put in place a COO that was one of our best IHOP operators, you know, both with long-time tenures with Dine and headquarters. They're making a big difference this year. We're seeing some really encouraging green shoots. They have streamlined the menu. They have upgraded the quality of the proteins.
They're focusing the menu on tacos and margs. And most importantly, we just opened what we're calling a Fast Casual Plus model. And the elements, and we did that in Houston. The key difference is Fuzzy's historically, you went to the counter, you ordered your taco and beer, you got a buzzer, you sat down, the buzzer rang, you picked up your food, you ate it, and you left. And the restaurants are built like almost like a sports bar, right, with a bar and lots of TVs and a reason to stick around for a while. But we were closing out the tickets so early, they weren't staying.
So now you sit down at the table, you're getting, you're placing your order with a server at the table, keeping your ticket, your check open, and we're seeing second rounds of tacos and second rounds of beers and margaritas. And the franchisees are encouraged by that. We've got about six of them that are signing up to develop this new model. So I would describe it as green shoots. And we think that this new model has potential, but we've got, you know, the next year to prove it out and to continue to tweak it. But that's the direction we're headed.
Got it. Well, I think we're coming up on time here. So thanks for that. And happy holidays, everybody. And really appreciate the time this week.
Thank you. Same to you. Appreciate you including us.
Thank you. Bye.
That's all it is.