Wonka Menu Items Include Purple Pancakes and Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate
Coordinating with the upcoming Wonka movie, IHOP has cooked up eight new food and drink offerings. The special menu is already available at IHOPs, although the movie won’t be released in the United States until Dec. 15, according to Mashed.com.
The Wonka-esque foods and beverages arrive during a year of sweeping IHOP menu updates that began in April, Nation’s Restaurant News reported. IHOP has proclaimed that those changes comprise its “largest menu evolution ever,” and it’s been a winning stroke for the brand. John Peyton, CEO of IHOP parent Dine Brands, said the revised menu has generated more traffic and customer appeal, helping IHOP outpace its competitors.
Of course, IHOP hopes the Wonka menu – available until Jan. 7 – ratchets up customer interest even further. Kieran Donahue, chief marketing officer for IHOP, told Mashed that the cross-promotion with the Warner Bros. film is the restaurant franchise’s “most creative partnership yet.” Donahue said the restaurant brand wants to bring families together for breakfast, lunch and dinner with the limited-time menu and has upped the ante by allowing children ages 11 and younger to eat free from 4 to 10 p.m.
Wonka Limited-Time Menu Items
So what’s makes the special menu Wonka-worthy?
Well, purple – Willy’s favorite color – takes center stage in Wonka’s Perfectly Purple Pancakes (buttermilk pancakes layered with cheesecake mousse, pictured above) and in the Daydream Berry Biscuit, which is split and filled with cheesecake mousse and crowned with a mixed berry topping, purple cream cheese icing and powdered sugar.
The Hoverchoc Tacos are a chocoholic’s delight: small chocolate pancakes folded over a filling of cheesecake mousse, strawberries and chocolate syrup. Then there’s the Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate, which offers an opportunity for additional chocolate indulgence. It mates the taste of traditional hot cocoa with strawberry syrup; a whipped topping and a drizzle of chocolate sauce and gold glitter sugar are the final festive touches.
The other beverage on the menu is Dreamy Lemonade (above), a concoction mixing lemonade with prickly pear-flavored syrup, which is purple. The lemonade is served in a cup rimmed with cream cheese frosting and rainbow sprinkles. Its over-the-top topping is a cloud of cotton candy.
Chocolate and purple pop again in two more breakfast offerings aimed at the younger crowd. Willy’s Jr. French Toast Dippers (chocolate dipping sauce and a side of fresh strawberries and bananas) and the Jr. Magical Breakfast Medley (two purple pancakes and one scrambled egg, bacon strip and sausage link).
The Fantastical Wonka Burger, a flavor explosion of lettuce, tomato, a purple-rimmed red onion, pickles, a four-cheese blend, avocado, bacon, fried hash browns, IHOP sauce and a ranch drizzle on a brioche bun. Chef Arthur Carl II, IHOP’s vice president of culinary, told Restaurant Business Online that going all-chocolate was “too obvious. We went with savory ideas, too.”
IHOP – Wonka Partnership
“When you partner with a movie studio, we can add fun colors to pancakes, waffles and biscuits, our core menu equity,” added Carl, who explained that a “core and explore” philosophy guides his recipe development. “We elevate [core items] at different times of the year. … The menu crosses all age groups and is both savory and sweet, so it satisfies all cravings. Through customer feedback we learned that our guests want quality and fresh ingredients along with a value piece. Plus, customization is important; 80% of guests customize.”
To finalize IHOP’s limited-time menu, Warner Bros. studio executives participated in the special-menu tastings along with Carl and his culinary team. And the results? “Everyone’s excited about the Wonka menu,” he told Restaurant Business.
Wonka Prequel
The innovative menu is designed to capture the high spirits and humor woven into the Wonka prequel, which depicts a youthful Willy Wonka on his path toward becoming a chocolate entrepreneur. (Timothée Chalamet is already winning rave reviews from critics for his performance in the title role of the PG-rated film, Variety has reported.)
With the Wonka partnership, IHOP hopes to piggyback on its previous successes with movie tie-ins. Earlier this year, the brand teamed with Marvel Studios, offering free tickets to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania when a customer spent $30 or more. And last year, it launched a special menu in association with Minions: The Rise of Gru. It also has partnered with the Addams Family movie franchise.
“We’ll probably do more movie tie-ins in the future,” Restaurant Business quoted Carl as saying. “It works well for IHOP.”
Other Wonka Wares
IHOP isn’t alone in riding Willy Wonka’s long, old-fashioned coattails. In other cross-promotions, Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products is unveiling a sweeping collection of Wonka-themed merchandise, according to reports on Licenseglobal.com and Anbmedia.com.
Those articles say the studio’s marketers have teamed with Wonka-branded products from Art Sugar, Christopher Radko, Converse, Copper Pearl, Fossil, Funko, Hallmark, Happy Socks, Junkfood Clothing and Trumpette. Kellogg’s offers Willy Wonka Froot Loops Berry-licious Breakfast Cereal, and confectioner Ferrero released branded Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs. Wonka Chocolate Toothpaste will be available on the Hismile website beginning Dec. 12.
The reports also stated that the film studio’s exclusive retail partner, Bloomingdale’s, will feature Wonka window displays and The Carousel @ Bloomingdale’s: Wonka, which is an online and in-store boutique offering fashion, accessories and home products inspired by the fictional chocolatier. And if those items aren’t enough: Licenseglobal.com said Eyewear designer Tom Davies will soon launch a Wonka-inspired frames with exotic features, including color-changing, glow-in-the dark and scented glasses.
Photos: IHOP
