Parking pushes IHOP to new spot

If there's such a thing as being too popular, the IHOP on Brainerd Road is it.

After years of watching potential customers drive into the parking lot, fail to find a space and continue back out onto Brainerd Road, owner David Reller has decided to move - across the street.

"We have a terrible time with parking," said Reller, who owns five International House of Pancakes restaurants in the region.

The new 4,000-square-foot building, which will open in late July, should cost about $2.5 million to build and will seat 175 customers, he said.

"And obviously, it's going to have a whole lot of parking," Reller said.

But he's quick to point out that the old pancake grills and other cooking equipment will be the same, "so the flavors don't change."

Earth movers are clearing a spot in the lot in front of the Brainerd Village Shopping Center that will allow IHOP to replace its current 2,600-square-foot building, which is shaped like an "A" and only seats 125.

The new LEED-certified restaurant will be more upscale, "with a lot of copper, a lot of rock," said Bobby Massey, area manager for IHOP.

"The A-frames just weren't originally designed for the volume we have today," he said.

Area IHOP restaurants

5707 Brainerd Road, Chattanooga2047 Battlefield Parkway, Ft. Oglethorpe5117 Highway 153, Hixson4323 Freedom Place, Cleveland1510 Walnut Ave., Dalton

IHOP has proven not only to be recession proof, but actually increased sales during the recent economic downturn, Massey said.

"I believe that when jobs become few and far between and money is hard to come by, people generally make themselves feel better by eating out," he said. And, "I believe that it's due to our world-famous pancakes."

Moving across the street wasn't a decision taken lightly. There are open locations all over Chattanooga that could have been an option.

In fact, Massey said that there are currently plans for one more store in the Chattanooga area to open in 2012, though he hasn't locked down a location yet.

"I think we have a responsibility to our customers who have been coming to the Brainerd restaurant for years," Reller said. "It's been around since November 1971, so we feel like the business is still there, and we wouldn't be investing all this money in putting it across the street if we didn't."

Contact staff writer Ellis Smith at esmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6315.

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