What Sets IHOPs In Vermont Apart

For decades, IHOP has been serving up stacks of signature buttermilk pancakes, waffles, and French toast to hungry fans. Since opening its doors in the Los Angeles suburbs in 1958, the business first known as The International House of Pancakes, and later abbreviated in 1973, has expanded to all 50 states (per IHOP). These days, everyone from Alaska to Texas to Maine can enjoy a pile of double blueberry pancakes or country fried steak and eggs.

IHOP devotees know that one of the best parts of a trip to the pancake palace is the syrup selection. A choose-your-own caddy of "old-fashioned," strawberry, blueberry, and butter pecan varieties was once standard issue for slathering on short stacks at every table until the COVID-19 pandemic, even going viral once for singing "Bohemian Rhapsody." These days, the high-touch items have been replaced with single-use containers (per IHOP), but there's no lack of the sweet stuff. It wouldn't be a trip to IHOP, after all, without sampling the syrup.

Interestingly, however, when the restaurant chain wanted to open its first location in Vermont in 2009, one of the sticking points to becoming the 50th state in the IHOP roster came down to a matter of syrup semantics. The New York Times reports that the state had strong feelings about what could be called "old-fashioned maple syrup," and some special concessions were made.

According to the U.S. Census, the population of Vermont is around 645,000 and is primarily made up of small towns and small-scale farmers. As such, local products are a big part of the state's cultural identity. There are even fairly strict laws defining the labeling of local products, specifically Act 129, which defines what can be considered Vermont local food (per State of Vermont).

No product is as near and dear to the hearts of Vermonters as maple syrup, which is made by boiling down the sap from sugar maples — the official state tree. This species grows throughout the eastern side of North America, from southeastern Canada all the way down into the Appalachian mountains, according to The New England Forestry Foundation. And in Vermont, sugar maples do double duty, producing maple syrup in the late winter and creating gorgeous red and orange leaves during fall foliage — a major tourism attraction.

Vermont takes its syrup so seriously, in fact, that there's a list of statutes defining the laws of maple syrup production (per the Vermont State Legislature). It says, "'Maple syrup' means pure maple syrup which is the liquid derived by concentration and heat treatment of the sap of the maple tree (Acer). Maple syrup shall not be processed in any manner which adds or removes naturally occurring soluble materials."

When the general manager and franchise owner of Vermont's first IHOP, Sam Handy Jr., decided to open in South Burlington, he knew he had two things working against him. First, Vermonters are not big on chains, and in fact The Washington Post reports that Vermont has the smallest number of chain restaurants in the country. This is maybe no surprise from a state that was the first to outlaw billboards (per VTDigger).

Handy knew there was also the syrup situation. While IHOP's "old-fashioned" pancake syrup skirted the state guidelines by not including the word "maple" in the name, it's made from corn syrup with artificial flavoring. Handy told The New York Times in 2009 that he knew the fake stuff wouldn't fit at an outlet in the Green Mountain State, so he won over hearts and minds by getting special permission from the company to serve the real stuff sourced from a producer in Hardwick, VT for an extra 99 cents. The maple maneuver was a hit — the restaurant sells around 180 containers a week.

The South Burlington IHOP is going strong, and it's still the only location out of more than 1,400 restaurants sprinkled throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that serves real maple syrup — just the way the locals like it. Now, if only IHOP could add alcohol to the menu so everyone could have a round of Vermont coffees with breakfast.