Involvement with Variable Interest Entities

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Involvement with Variable Interest Entities

Involvement with Variable Interest Entities

15. Involvement with Variable Interest Entities

In February 2009, the Company and owners of Applebee’s and IHOP franchise restaurants formed Centralized Supply Chain Services, LLC (“CSCS”), a purchasing co-operative, to manage procurement activities for the Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants choosing to join CSCS. CSCS is a variable interest entity (“VIE”) as defined under U.S. GAAP. Under the terms of the membership agreements, each member restaurant belonging to CSCS has equal and identical voting rights, ownership rights and obligations. The Company does not have voting control of CSCS. Accordingly, the Company is not considered to be the primary beneficiary of the VIE and therefore does not consolidate the results of CSCS. The Company reaffirmed this assessment as of June 30, 2011 as there have been no changes in the significant facts and circumstances related to the Company’s involvement with CSCS.

Each member restaurant is responsible only for the goods and services it chooses to purchase and bears no responsibility or risk of loss for goods and services purchased by other member restaurants. Based on these facts, the Company believes its maximum estimated loss related to its membership in the CSCS is insignificant.