5 Major Changes Coming to Chili's This Year
Fast-casual chain Chili's is enjoying one of the most impressive turnarounds in restaurant history. Parent company Brinker revealed that restaurant sales increased by a massive 31% last quarter, continuing the trend of significant growth for three straight quarters. "The investments we have been making over the last three years are working," Kevin Hochman, Brinker's president and CEO, said in a January earnings call. "Marketing is doing a great job of bringing guests in and putting Chili's back in the culture again. Operations simplification investments in labor and facility improvements are working to get guests to return." The company clearly has no intention of losing momentum—here are 5 changes you can expect to come to Chili's in 2025.
TurboChef Ovens
Brinker international's president and CEO Kevin Hochman wants every Chili's to switch from conveyor-belt ovens to TurboChefs. "We have decided to accelerate the conversion of the balance of our restaurants to TurboChefs, which are ovens that use a combination of modern cooking methods to rapidly accelerate cooking vs. conventional ovens today," Hochman said, via Nation's Restaurant News. "The majority of our system uses conveyor-belt ovens that cook a variety of menu items like ribs, chicken, and quesadillas. The TurboChef ovens cook food "much faster and much more evenly" and put out less heat, "making the kitchen more comfortable for our team members. And they create superior-tasting products like crispier quesadillas and ribs with a delicious crust."
Renovating Locations
Hochman told CNBC the company is working on a new design to renovate some of the more run-down restaurants that "need some love", so the restaurant is a pleasant, affordable place to get together. "Progressively, every quarter, our results are getting better and better, now they're being fueled by 19% traffic growth, and, quite frankly, we think the sky's the limit," Hochman said. "We don't think this is the end, we think this is just the beginning of the Chili's turnaround."
Variety of Customers
One of the reasons Chili's is doing so well is thanks to Gen Z, who can't get enough of the Triple Dipper—so expect a wider variety of customers enjoying those $6 margaritas. "The campaign is bringing in a younger guest, it's driving a higher check average and guests who purchase a Triple Dipper are coming back more frequently than those who don't," Hochman said in the earnings call. "New guests, higher ticket and more frequency, I'd call that a Triple Dipper win for the business."
Menu Upgrades
Chili's is working on better quality of items on the menu, Hochman said. "From a food standpoint, we've successfully moved to a higher-quality chicken breast on every entree, as well as guacamole made fresh in-house every day. We also upgraded our recipes for bone-in chicken wings and bacon to make them crispier. Next on the upgrade list is Fajitas in Q4 and ribs in Q1… I don't have the marketing plan for Fajitas yet. There'll be some type of work that they do. It's certainly not going to be on TV. When we have that, those plans, we'll certainly share them out."
Faster Service
Guests will get their food quicker with the addition of cooking tools such as the steak weight, which trims cooking time up to 40%. "So a steak weight will be able to cook depending on the cut of steak, a whole lot faster," Hochman says. "It doesn't impact the taste or the juiciness of the steak whatsoever. It literally is just a way to cook a little bit faster because you're cooking both sides of the steak at the same time with a hot piece of metal, right?"
Sign up for our newsletter!
