How Chili's Won Over Customers From Fast Food

Chili's Grill & Bar has reigned supreme in the casual dining scene for years, but it wasn't all that long ago that it was struggling. Indeed, after 2008's Great Recession and the years-long pandemic, many of its fellow restaurant brethren have also dealt with the shrinking of the middle class (and its shrinking spending money), which used to be its mainstay customers. Recently, Red Lobster, Joe's Crab Shack, and TGI Fridays have all filed for bankruptcy, among others. Casual dining chains have been in a persistent state of decline for more than a decade, and are now the worst-performing segment of the entire restaurant industry. And yet, there is a ray of light amongst the darkness, and that shining glimmer of hope is none other than the restaurant that gave us the best/worst jingle of all time ("Chili's...baby back riiiiibs"). 

In its most recent financial quarter, Chili's saw its same-store sales rise 14.8% year over year, while their casual dining rivals all reported declines. While many other restaurants were quick to blame beleaguered millennials as the reason for their traffic slumps, Chili's took a different approach. The secret's not in the sauce this time, but rather, in a cheeky ad campaign that took aim at fast food restaurants, along with a TikTok-viral appetizer that apparently spoke to the Gen Z crowd. Thanks to the new Big Smasher burger and social media-ready Triple Dipper appetizer, Chili's has found resurrection when few others have. 

In the spring of 2024, Chili's decided to take aim at fast food restaurants, rather than the Bennigan's down the street. Called the "better-than-fast-food" campaign, Chili's decided to do their own version of a combo meal, complete with a brand new burger that had twice the beef of a standard Big Mac. In a press release, Chief Marketing Officer George Felix announced, "We believe that Chili's 3 For Me offers better value than you'll find in any drive-thru and, with the all-new Big Smasher burger, we just made the 3 for Me even better." To spread the awareness, the brand jumped back into TV and digital advertising, while also encouraging their fans on X to share why Chili's is better than fast food as part of a gift card sweepstakes. (They even had Boyz II Men remake that classic Chili's jingle.)

These value-driven promotions, like the "3 For Me" deal, were apparently strong enough to convince fast food fans to leave the Golden Arches in the dust. Chili's also introduced a throwback video game, inspired by nostalgia for the '80s arcade game BurgerTime, that pokes fun at the "evil Fast-Food Syndicates" about their high prices. Whether or not the viral-ness of these advertising campaigns will last through 2025 is anyone's guess. But Chili's is already planning for next year: The brand is launching a complete makeover of their famous fajitas, with upgraded ingredients, a new presentation, and a promise that every single platter will arrive sizzling hot to your table.