HOULTON, Maine – In preparation for a Tuesday opening, the new Houlton IHOP served more than 200 guests on Saturday and Sunday in a final training exercise.
IHOP training specialist Nicky Cruche from Georgia and regional director Rebecca Duchaneau from Canada have been working with the team since the beginning of the month to make sure they are ready for this week’s 6 a.m. opening.
“We are showing them the IHOP way,” said Cruche. “We had the dry run to get them ready for a normal day.”
The IHOP franchise, owned by Great American Real Food Fast in Connecticut, moved into the previous Big Stop restaurant location at the busy Irving Oil travel plaza in Houlton off Interstate 95.
“Everything pre-opening has gone smoothly and we’re looking forward to getting open,” said co-owner Andrew Ouimet, adding that this is the only Maine IHOP north of Augusta.
Invitations went out last week to first responders and other community members for the complementary weekend practice sessions from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to give the kitchen staff and servers the opportunity to experience preparing and serving the menu items.
Cruche said she split the menu for each person served so that everyone at the table would order something different.
On Sunday afternoon, just before 1 p.m., the restaurant was nearly full, including a large table of Houlton police officers along with Chief Tim DeLuca.
There were five kitchen staff and seven servers working.
Franchise director of operations Tanya Lyons said on Sunday that they expect their location as the last stop on I-95 before the international Canadian border will draw people to the restaurant.
The Houlton IHOP will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
