LaToya Carter walked into IHOP for some breakfast.
However, the 21-year-old civil engineering student did not know her breakfast would be for a cause.
Carter participated in National Pancake Day Tuesday, when IHOP Restaurant gave away free three-pancake short stacks from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.
The restaurant was fully seated and fully staffed, with patrons waiting in the lobby, cooks scrambling in the kitchen and servers bustling around the restaurant, trying to accommodate the customers who packed the building.
“At about 10 a.m., we start a waiting list, and that waiting list [goes] ‘til about 10 p.m. tonight,” said Michael Velzke, a 39-year-old IHOP assistant manager.
What is sometimes lost in the flapjack free-for-all is that the event is for charity. After placing an order for an omelet, hash browns and a short stack, Carter made a $1 donation to the Children’s Miracle Network by purchasing a balloon-shaped donation card.
Over the past five years, the Sunshine Restaurant Partners franchise, which owns IHOPs in Florida and Georgia, has garnered $5.2 million for the charity, Velzke said.
“It’s all about the children,” said IHOP general manager Scott Stazzone.“It’s what we can do to help our little ones.”
When National Pancake Day rolled around last year, Gainesville’s IHOP alone gave away 1,950 short stacks, or 5,850 pancakes. This year, Stazzone said, the restaurant expects to give away 2,000 short stacks.
Though IHOP does not profit, Velzke said, the product exposure afforded by the free pancake event doesn’t hurt.
