Thomas Song has resigned from the position of chief financial officer of Dine Brands Global Inc., effective Jan. 22, 2021, the company said in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
His interim replacement will be Alison Hall, who has been the company’s vice president and corporate controller since March of 2019, the filing said, adding that she started with the company in 2007 as assistant controller.
Glendale, Calif.-based Dine Brands is the parent company of family-dining chain IHOP and casual-dining chain Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar.
In an email, the chairman of Dine Brands’ board of directors, Richard Dahl, said Song was leaving to “take an opportunity outside of the restaurant industry.”
He added that Hall was “a talented financial executive with a deep understanding of Dine Brands. Since joining the company 13 years ago, she has helped lead us through a number of important transactions, including our securitization and several debt restructurings, and has overseen the integration of our financial systems. Allison is well qualified to lead our world-class financial team during this transition period.”
Song, left, who joined Dine Brands in 2018, will leave shortly after the arrival of the company’s new CEO, John Peyton, who is replacing Steve Joyce as of Jan. 4, 2021.
Both of Dine Brands’ chains have been hard hit by the pandemic due to dining room restrictions and, in the case of IHOP, a slowdown of breakfast traffic. Although same-store sales have been improving more-or-less steadily since the initial lockdown in March, the company said in its most recent earnings call that up to 100 IHOP locations and 16 Applebee’s would close in the fourth quarter.
At that time there were 1,683 IHOP restaurants and 1,614 Applebee’s.
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