Dubai: Restaurant chains can always do with a spot of spicing up — metaphorically or otherwise — of their menu. Serving up the same dishes day-in and out can often lead to a blandness that can get in the way of winning over new patrons and retaining existing ones.

But DineEquity Inc — the holding company behind the wholesome American casual dining brands Applebee’s Grill and Ihop — is not limiting itself to half measures. It recently unveiled a brand makeover programme that will extend to all of the key markets, including in the Gulf where a major expansion spree is on.

As per the current plans, the Gulf network should be done with incorporating the changes in the next 12-18 months. In this case, it makes things easier because there will be as many as 41 new locations — including 17 for Ihop — and where the new design concepts can be integrated right at the build-up itself.

“The intention is to double our presence in the next five years in these markets where we have already seen growing traffic helping our bottomline,” said Daniel del Olmo, DineEquity’s president. “The transition to the new look was launched in the US 18 months ago and, now, the rest of the overseas territories we are in are catching up.”

Some of the other generic international F&B operators present here have gone through their own changes, in some instances tweaking the offerings while at others it cuts deeper. The UAE’s F&B landscape, always intensely hot on the competitive side, is getting more so with a flood of new concepts coming through. While many of these are start-ups, established business groups are also aiming for diversification through forays into F&B.

So, what changes specifically as part of the process?

“There will be a less clutter environment at our locations, that’s for sure... we have revised the brand design manual significantly and also worked on culinary innovations,” said del Olmo. “We have been quite comprehensive about the scale of the change. It was also a chance at the brands’ evolution.” (The operator tapped into an extensive feedback generated from its customers to provide the basis for the changes. Applebee’s locations in these markets will go live with a ‘celebration time’ design prototype, while Ihop’s will have ‘California heritage’.)

At the same time, its franchisees in the Gulf will have the flexibility to decide which of their existing locations need reworking on the looks.

An updated image will also play well when it enters new overseas territories and there are quite a few on del Olmo’s to-do list. DineEquity around 3,600 restaurants across both brands, including over 220 restaurants outside the US.

“Options for India are being explored, China’s another potential market for us and closer to this region, we are looking at Turkey quite closely,” the president said. “Our preference would be to go in with a local partner for each territory... local knowledge and understanding are crucial in this line.

“We are seeing a significant increase in interest in both our brands from existing franchise partners as well as prospective. We are specifically looking to increase our presence throughout the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Rim and Latin America.”