Chili’s CMO on brand’s winning value message and evolving data strategy

Chili’s CMO on brand’s winning value message and evolving data strategy

Swipes at fast food rivals and marketing to Gen Z with TikTok have helped boost the casual dining chain’s sales.
Published Aug. 29, 2024

Peter Adams
Senior Reporter

Chili’s Big Smasher burger is a key piece of a marketing strategy focused on value. The brand has been busy this year swiping at fast food competitors over rising prices. Permission granted by Chili’s Grill & Bar
The restaurant business has built a reputation for combative marketing, whether through making swipes on social media or leveraging technology to steal store traffic from rivals. Chili’s Grill & Bar is seeing success this year by putting brands outside of the casual dining category where it operates in the cross hairs. The purveyor of baby back ribs and margaritas has been busy chiding fast food giants over soaring prices, promoting offers like its 3 for Me meal and Big Smasher burger as more affordable options for cash-strapped consumers.

The aggressive messaging strategy, which has come to life in TV ads and a remake of cult ’80s video game BurgerTime, seems to be paying off even as fast food companies again ramp up value initiatives. Chili’s saw same-store sales, a key metric of restaurant health, rise 14.8% year over year in its most recent financial quarter, according to an earnings statement from parent Brinker International. Positive results suggest that a turnaround plan for the brand is starting to take hold, with marketing helping drive growth.

Chili’s CMO George Felix
Permission granted by Chili’s Grill & Bar
 
“In terms of how we keep the momentum, it’s continuing to do the things that we’ve been focused on,” said Chili’s CMO George Felix, who joined the brand two years ago. “It comes down to continuing ownership and leadership in value.”
Chili’s has also invested more in marketing to Gen Z through apps like TikTok, capitalizing on fast-moving social media trends, including cheese-pull videos that can rack up hundreds of thousands of views. Felix, who has previously worked at QSR heavyweights like Yum Brands’ Pizza Hut and KFC, also discussed learning the ropes of first-party data and customer relationship management with Marketing Dive.    
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: Brinker reported a healthy sales bump. It was a good earnings report in a category that is, in a lot of cases, not having many of those. As a CMO, how are you planning to capitalize on the momentum entering H2?
GEORGE FELIX: We’re really excited about the results. Obviously, it’s a very difficult time right now in the industry. To be outpacing the industry by over 15 points in sales and six to seven points in traffic is something we’re really proud of. 
Being able to continue to own that value conversation is very important for us. Part of that is making Chili’s relevant again. That’s something we’ve been focused on over the last couple of years. Some of that is via the 3 for Me deal but other times it’s maybe a new margarita or more of a reaction on social media or working with influencers to keep Chili’s top of mind. 

The other piece that can’t be understated is our operational teams. We have 60,000 team members that are doing an amazing job. As we’re bringing people into Chili’s, they’re having a great experience. They’re experiencing what we call “Chilihead hospitality.” When you’ve got the marketing and operations working together like that, you’ve got a recipe for success.
Value has been a resonant strategy. Some of the fast food targets of your messaging have also begun to introduce more value meals. How has that affected your thinking? 
It’s no secret that people are frustrated with the rising cost of fast food. Frankly, I think fast food has broken its promise to consumers on being the most affordable and convenient solution. For us, we think that was a great place to insert Chili’s into the conversation.
We’ve seen all of these [rival] offers coming out. A couple of things: One is, value is not just about the lowest price point. We’ve seen that play out when you see the [financial] results across the industry. I’m a firm believer that you get for what you pay. We feel confident in both the quality and the abundance of the offering that we have. 
The other thing to note is that a lot of these things that are coming out, it seems like people are scrambling to put in a value offer for a limited time to stem the losses they’re seeing. The reality is, for us, our value is available every single day. There’s no coupon needed, no time restrictions. Another important aspect of this is we’re not trying to do anything that’s gimmicky or short-term.
Just to affirm, you’re thinking about value as not so much a moment in time thing and more what Chili’s is about for the long haul? 
Absolutely. We’ve been talking about the 3 for Me for about 18 months. More people have noticed in the last three or four months, but it’s not a new offer like some of these other concepts. We’re definitely in it for the long term.