Chili’s is America’s unlikeliest restaurant comeback story

Chili’s, the 49-year casual dining chain that American diners forgot and Wall Street turned its back on, has made a stunning comeback. It’s America’s hottest restaurant chain, a sentence that hasn’t been uttered since NYSNC sang its baby back ribs jingle in a late 1990s commercial.

Chili’s, the 49-year casual dining chain that American diners forgot and Wall Street turned its back on, has made a stunning comeback. It’s America’s hottest restaurant chain, a sentence that hasn’t been uttered since NSYNC sang its baby back ribs jingle in a 2002 commercial. For years, Chili’s, a purveyor of greasy American staples, was losing out to flashier and more up-to-date restaurants like Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse when customers wanted a casual and inexpensive dinner out with the family. Chili’s was doing just about everything wrong. Its advertising was focused on discounts, biting into profits. That meant it couldn’t invest in modernizing its restaurants, upgrading its menu and keeping its staff happy, leading employees to head for the exits. The slow service and outdated atmosphere frustrated customers. “We were very much on a strategy of just trying to be the lowest price out there,” Kevin Hochman, Chili’s president and CEO of its parent company Brinker International, said in an interview with CNN. “That made it very difficult for us to make the needed investments in labor and in the restaurants.” But under Hochman, who took over in 2022, Chili’s upgraded its french fry and chicken tender recipes, offered fast food-like prices and caught fire on TikTok with customers posting videos pulling apart gooey mozzarella sticks. That helped Chili’s buck this year’s restaurant slowdown. Institutions like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy, Denny’s and Applebee’s announced major store closings, and customers reached their breaking point with McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC’s prices.