Pasadena-Headquartered Dine Brands, Nationwide Operator of Appleby’s and IHOP, Names New Chief Development Officer

Dine Brands Global, Inc., the Pasadena-based parent company of popular Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar, Internal House of Pancakes (IHOP) and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop restaurants, has promoted Scott Gladstone as the company’s new Chief Development Officer. 

The company moved to Pasadena in 2023. The new headquarters is located at 10 West, a cutting-edge office campus in historic Old Pasadena. The move was part of a strategic decision to create a contemporary, vibrant office environment that reinforces Dine Brands as a great place to work, according to the company’s CEO, John Peyton.

Gladstone will continue to serve as Dine Brands’ International President, overseeing Dine’s global portfolio of Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants across 18 international markets, the company said in a statement Thursday.

“We are positioning Dine Brands to take advantage of and aggressively pursue growth opportunities across each of our brands,” John Peyton, Dine Brands President and CEO, said. “Scott’s leadership, together with a realignment of, and incremental addition to, internal resources, expanded capabilities and targeted investments, will allow Dine to prioritize development as the key growth driver for near and long-term growth.”

The role of Chief Development Officer is a new position at the company designed to leverage shared resources, drive Dine’s world-class franchisor capabilities, and deliver consistent performance and value creation for shareholders, the company’s statement said. 

The statement said Gladstone will be responsible for overseeing franchise development globally, in an effort to deepen Dine’s development capabilities and enhance support for new and existing franchisees.

“Each of our brands has meaningful whitespace for development,” Gladstone said. “However, development is not a one size fits all solution for our brands, nor for our franchisees. We are uniquely positioned to combine the benefits of Dine’s scale with tailored support and expertise, and I look forward to leveraging this to support new and future franchisees in growing their portfolios of established brands and accelerating development opportunities across the platform.”

Gladstone joined Applebee’s in 2016 as head of U.S. development before expanding his role to include Business Analytics and Consumer Insights for the brand. He moved over to Dine Brands in 2019 to head strategy. 

Prior to joining Dine Brands, he Was a Project Leader at The Boston Consulting Group, leading strategy and operations projects across a variety of industries and topics. 

Gladstone received his undergraduate degree from Emory University and his M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management.