- Chili’s is winning the fast-casual war by prioritizing value and operational efficiency. And the proof is in the pudding: Same-store sales jumped more than 30% last quarter, and the restaurant is ranked among the best for foot traffic. “We’ve brought back Chili’s,” CEO Kevin Hochman said.
Chili’s golden years were in the 1980s and 1990s. The casual-dining chain was growing quickly and was beloved by families and employees alike, Kevin Hochman, CEO of Brinker International, which owns Chili’s, told Fortune.
That was also the era in which the “Baby Back Ribs” jingle, a cultural zeitgeist, first made waves. But the casual chain with a Tex-Mex flair is making its baby-back comeback by winning the value meal wars among fast-food and casual dining chains and making its operations more efficient than ever.
“When I travel around the country talking to restaurant managers, many of the ones who were around in the 2000s often comment to me that ‘It feels like Chili’s again! We’ve brought back Chili’s,’” Hochman said.
Last year, McDonald’s customers became outraged over the inflated prices of Big Macs, which hit an eye-popping $18 for a combo meal. While Chili’s has long offered meal specials, Hochman took this as a cue to hone its value offerings. In 2024, Chili’s launched a $10.99 combo meal, which includes a large burger, a side, and a drink—plus unlimited chips and salsa.
“If that’s all you want to spend, you can go to Chili’s and get that,” Hochman said. “You’re not going to get a bait and switch or anything.”
The value meal play is paying off. Chili’s reported a 31.4% same-store sales increase in its Q2 fiscal year 2025 results, and for the entire 2024 fiscal year, the restaurant chain reported a 7.4% jump.
“Performance accelerated in Q4 FY24 with the launch of Chili’s 3 For Me value platform marketing campaign and the Big Smasher burger, an industry-leading value that has since continued to drive sales and guest frequency,” a Chili’s spokesperson told Fortune.
Compared to McDonald’s flagship Big Mac, the Chili’s Big Smasher burger has twice the amount of beef—plus the usual add-ons like special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions.
“The quality and the abundance is much bigger,” Hochman said. “We don’t serve a baby patty. We serve a giant gourmet patty and a really high-quality bun.” The Big Smasher also happens to be Hochman’s favorite menu item, along with a Presidente Margarita.
Increasing efficiency
Aside from its focus on value, Chili’s has also been focused on increasing efficiency at its restaurants. One prime—yet seemingly simple—example is how Chili’s has changed its process for making fries.
“What’s the first thing someone does when they order a burger? They don’t bite the burger. They go and take a french fry out,” Hochman said. “So we spent a lot of time making sure that our fries were properly cooked.”
Chili’s added 30 seconds of cooking time to make the fries hotter and crispier, but notably changed the seasoning process. The chain’s old seasoning shakers forced Chili’s staff to shake 30 times to get the proper amount of seasoning on the fries. But that meant the fries would be cold by the time they were fully seasoned.
Those old shakers have been replaced with shakers that feature larger dispensing holes so team members only have to shake it about six to 10 times, Hochman said. That saves time and effort by kitchen staff, allowing the food to get delivered to customers more quickly.
“We’ve invested hundreds of millions of incremental dollars over the past three years to improve our team member and guest experience, and those investments have paid off,” Hochman said, citing Circana study placing Chili’s as the No. 1 casual dining restaurant chain by traffic share in 2024.
Hochman also told The Wall Street Journal the restaurant chain also changed the types of pickles it uses based on a suggestion from the culinary team. The previous pickles used by Chili’s came in a five-gallon jug that required a special tool and too much time to open—not to mention the liberated pickles (those that aren’t jarred or canned) would make a mess. Now, the restaurant uses pickles from smaller jars, which has also saved the company $500,000.
Another way Chili’s has increased efficiency at its restaurants is by shrinking its menu. Since Hochman became CEO in 2022, Chili’s has eliminated about a quarter of its menu items, he said.
On a “busy Friday or busy Saturday, if you have a tighter menu, it’s much easier to execute that with a full restaurant than if you have something that’s really that’s really complex,” Hochman said. “What we’ve done is really challenge a lot of the items that don’t get ordered very often.”
That’s alleviated bottlenecks in the kitchen and helped keep Chili’s pantries stocked and fresh, Hochman said, because after all, “we are really cooking in the back of Chili’s, so the more complexity that is there, the harder it is for those teams to execute with excellence.”
