Ep 49: Kieran Donahue is the Chief Marketing Officer for IHOP

Tackling the marketing for a restaurant chain during a pandemic is no small feat. Today’s guest Kieran Donahue took up the challenge when she became the Chief Marketing Officer for IHOP mid-COVID. While she is not solely responsible for the very impressive 40% growth that the brand recently announced, she did play a part in it. After a long career in hospitality with brands like Hilton and Marriott, Kieran joined this leading family dining brand to take on a new challenge in the restaurant industry. Today she joins us to discuss this transition, how she approached her new job, and what IHOP did pre-COVID that helped them survive the pandemic. She describes how she transferred some of the best practices from her experience in hospitality into her role at IHOP. She also talks about the importance of knowing your customers and how technology can be used to achieve this. To find out how IHOP is developing their brand and their tech stack in parallel, how they view their relationship with third parties, and insight into their new fast-casual concept Flip’d, tune in today!