How Chilis boosted comparable sales by 31%

Brinker International’s comparable sales growth during its fiscal 2nd quarter of 2025 broke records. Its Sales in the same store rose 27%Almost driven by Chili’s 31% jump in comparable sales for the quarter, which ends on December 25, 2024, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.

Chili’s sales growth included an increase of almost 20% in traffic, driven by heavy investments in ads that emphasized the chain’s “industry’s leading value.” This marketing brought in guests while operating improvements led to return visits, the company said. Favorable Menu blending and menu prices also positively affected sales growth.

This momentum is especially important because many relaxed chains, including the Darden, your brands and Bloomin ‘Brandshas sent falls or a lean growth in the sale of the same store. Consumer price sensitivity has driven traffic in recent quarters.

Chili Turnaround -Plan took seven quarters to turn traffic to positive, said CEO Kevin Hochman During a Wednesday’s earnings call. He expects a similar timeline for Maggiano’s – which then comparable sales increases with over 1% – to improve traffic as part of his own turning strategy. Maggiano’s is working on menu improvements in addition to redevelopments and other operating efficiency.

At Chili’s improved upgrades to menu ingredients customer satisfaction results. The staff now manufactures guacamole internally every day, for example. Chili’s use higher quality chicken breasts for main courses and upgraded its bone-in chicken wings recipe to make them crispier, Hochman said. The chain will continue to improve its ingredients, which leads to better tasting food, “which is an important piece of speeding up our results,” he said.

Chili’s trimmed 13 menu items and 12 pantry SKUs in addition to reducing Prep sets, he said, adding that the brand reinvests the time in making fewer things better.

“We are encouraged with our ability to speed up sales results while we are also continuing to trim the menu,” said CEO.

Driving efficiency with improvements to the house

The chain has made several back-of-house equipment changes that have increased operations. Chili completed the installation of a new kitchen display system that eliminated hundreds of reference finders in the kitchen and made it easier to find recipes. This contributed to slightly faster ticket times, even with an increase in customer traffic, Hochman said.

While Chili is still offering IT’s Wings virtual brand, it has simplified the mark to the point that it was able to remove the specific station for wings. The equipment took up too much space for only 1% of the business. This change led to less preparation time, less equipment to clean and more space, enabling the kitchen to focus on high -growth objects such as triple dippers and crispers, Hochman said.

Chili’s will also fully implement turbox across its system after three years of testing. Compared to previous conveyor belts, these ovens take less space and cook items faster and more consistently.

“With the sustained traffic increase, the time has come to upgrade the balance of our system to an equipment that can properly handle our new increased quantities,” Hochman said.

How marketing helped bring in customers

The company also made significant progress in marketing its triple dipping, which is a combination of three appetizers of a guest’s choice, as part of a campaign that began April 2024. Over the second quarter, the chain collaborated with the influence of social media to market this product. Chili basically doubled the proportion of its business that can be attributed to triple dipers representing 14% of total sales in the quarter compared to 7% a year ago, Hochman said.

Its Better than fast food campaign For its 3 for me also contributed to increased guest counts, Hochman said.

“While competitors can definitely pricing under our 3 for me offers, it is very difficult for them to repeat the total value proposition considering the amount of time and investment we have put into improving the experience,” Hochman said.