Kids eat free at IHOP Thursday.

IHOP runs kids eat free on Wednesdays and Thursdays: a free kids meal for kids 12 and under with an adult purchase. IHOP was built as a family restaurant and it shows: all-day breakfast means pancakes at 2pm work as well as 8am, the playful menu names entertain children.

The buttermilk pancakes, over 700 million served a year, and omelettes made extra fluffy with a secret touch of pancake batter.

French Toast, Pancakes, Waffles, Burgers, Quesadillas

Limited to kids 12 and under, with an adult meal, dine-in only.

Always call to be sure.

Al Lapin Jr., Jerry Lapin, and Albert Kallis opened the first International House of Pancakes on July 16, 1958, in Toluca Lake, California, bringing what then counted as exotic, European-inspired pancakes like Swedish crepes with lingonberries to American suburbs. The A-frame buildings with blue roofs became landmarks, the 1973 marketing campaign gave the world the IHOP acronym, and the pancake became an institution: over 700 million buttermilk stacks a year, with flavoured syrups lining every table.

Breakfast is served all day, every day, and many locations run 24 hours. The menu long ago grew burgers, sandwiches, and salads, but nobody is fooled about who is king. IHOP's parent company acquired Applebee's in 2007 to form Dine Brands, and the chain now spans 1,800+ locations worldwide, including 40+ across Canada.