First IHOP in Mexico opens

IHOP Corp., the operator of more than 1,300 pancake restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, debuted in Mexico on Tuesday with a store in Monterrey.

Franchisee Junior Foods will add five other restaurants in Mexico over the next four years, IHOP said. IHOP will open in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in two weeks, the Glendale-based company said.

The openings are the first outside the U.S. and Canada since IHOP changed its business model in 2003. IHOP has signed commitments for franchisees to develop 447 restaurants in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands over the next 11 years, with options extending until 2022.

Monterrey, an industrial city in northern Mexico, has a population of about 1.1 million people. It is the capital of the state of Nuevo Leon.

Junior Foods, based in Monterrey, plans to open the additional restaurants in Nuevo Leon. Franchisee Kip Enterprises Inc. will open the IHOP in St. Thomas and agreed to develop a second restaurant there over the next five years.

IHOP shares fell 7 cents to $54.25.