Rick Celio, IHOP's Vice President, Franchise & Development, said, "Today's announcement marks the first franchise development agreement that will take the IHOP brand outside of the U.S. since changing our business model in 2003. We are excited to partner with Junior Foods for expansion throughout Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and, in the near-term, we look forward to capturing further international growth opportunities in Mexico and Canada. We also continue to make excellent progress domestically, with additional single restaurant and multiple restaurant agreements for development secured during the first quarter 2006 within strategic growth markets for IHOP."

As of the end of the first quarter 2006, the Company's franchise pipeline included signed or optioned commitments for franchisees to develop a total of 395 new IHOP restaurants in the U.S. over the next eleven years. Currently, IHOP is finalizing legal agreements for additional franchise development that could add up to 50 more IHOP restaurants to its development pipeline, which brings total signed, optioned and pending commitments to as many as 445 restaurants in the U.S. Internationally, IHOP is currently pursuing a number of additional Multi-Store Development Agreements with prospective franchisees, primarily within the countries of Mexico and Canada.

The following are details of Multi-Store Development Agreements signed during the first quarter 2006:

-- Michael Ruben has agreed to develop six new IHOP restaurants over the next seven years within the market of Chicago, Illinois, and has acquired an option exercisable by 2012 to develop five additional IHOP restaurants over a three and a half year period in the Chicago market. Mr. Ruben has been an IHOP franchisee for ten years, and currently operates nine IHOP restaurants in Illinois and Indiana.

-- David Reller has agreed to develop three new IHOP restaurants over the next five years in the market of Memphis, Tennessee, which includes surrounding areas in Arkansas and Mississippi, as well as in the markets of Columbus and Greenwood within the state of Mississippi. Mr. Reller has been an IHOP franchisee for seven years, and currently operates 10 IHOP restaurants in Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.

-- Maqsood Cheema has agreed to develop three new IHOP restaurants over the next four and a half years within the county of Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Cheema has been an IHOP franchisee for 13 years, and currently operates three IHOP restaurants in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

In addition to these Multi-Store Development commitments, IHOP signed six Single-Store Development Agreements during the first quarter 2006, which the Company expects will be opened in the next 12 to 18 months in the states of California, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia.

Source .--BUSINESS WIRE