Combined with existing agreements with IHOP franchisees, the new deals increase the company's franchise pipeline to 377 new signed or optioned commitments as of the close of the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. IHOP also is close to completing agreements that would add up to 51 more IHOP restaurants to its development pipeline, which would bring the total of signed, optioned and pending commitments to as many as 428 restaurants.

The IHOP chain, which opened 13 new restaurants in the third quarter compared with 12 in last year's third quarter, says the new agreements signed during the quarter were with CFRA Inc., James Fabris, John Jordan, Union MAK Corp., Mohamed Makawi, Patti Ann Handelson and Teodoro Regalado.

CFRA has agreed to develop 14 locations in Alabama in a deal that provides it with exclusive development rights for all of the remaining Alabama trade areas. In conjunction with the agreement, CFRA acquired six existing IHOP locations in Alabama that were previously owned by IHOP. CFRA, which has been a part of the IHOP system for 29 years, operates 30 of the chain's restaurants in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Fabris has agreed to develop four new IHOP restaurants over the next five and a half years in New Jersey's Passaic County as well as in the cities of Boonton and Paramus, NJ. Fabris is a new franchisee who operates quick service restaurants in the Northeastern United States.

Jordan has agreed to develop five new IHOPs over the next six and a half years within Forsyth and Gwinnett counties as well as a portion of DeKalb and Fulton counties in Georgia. Jordan has been an IHOP franchisee in Georgia for two years.

Union MAK has agreed to develop six new restaurants in Hawaii over the next nine years, with exclusive development rights for all remaining Hawaii trade areas. A new franchisee, Union MAK expects to open the first of its restaurants under the agreement in mid-2006 in Waikiki Beach.

Mohamed Makawi's agreement calls for four new locations over the next five years in the South Carolina cities of Florence, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston, as well as in Wilmington, NC. Makawi has been an IHOP franchisee for five years.

Handelson will develop five new IHOPs over the next six years in Winston-Salem/Greensboro, NC. She has been an IHOP franchisee for 17 years and operates three restaurants in North Carolina.

Regalado is slated for four new locations in Louisiana over the next six and a half years in East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension. He has been a franchisee for eight years and currently operates four restaurants in Texas and Louisiana.

The remainder of the 46 will be opened in single-store and multiple-store deals in Wisconsin, Illinois and Kansas. As of September 30, the IHOP chain included 1,218 restaurants in 48 states and Canada.