Chili's

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Chili's Grill & Bar
TypeWholly owned subsidiary
IndustryRestaurant
GenreCasual dining
FoundedMarch 13, 1975; 46 years ago (1975-03-13)
FounderLarry Lavine
Headquarters3000 Olympus Blvd
Coppell, Texas 75019
U.S.
Number of locations
1,606 (2017)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Wyman Roberts (CEO), Kelli Valade, President
ProductsAmerican cuisine
ParentBrinker International
Websitechilis.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

Chili's Grill & Bar is an American casual dining restaurant chain.[3] The company was founded by Larry Lavine in Texas in 1975 and is currently owned and operated by Brinker International.

History[]

Chili's first location, a converted postal station on Greenville Avenue in the Vickery Meadows area of Dallas, Texas, opened in 1975. The original Chili's on Greenville Avenue moved to a new building on the same site in 1981 before relocating again in 2007.[4]

Lavine's concept was to create an informal, full-service dining restaurant with a menu featuring different types of hamburgers offered at an affordable price. The brand proved successful, and by the early 1980s, there were 28 Chili's locations in the region, all featuring similar Southwest decor.[5]

In 1983, Lavine sold the company to restaurant executive Norman E. Brinker, formerly of the Pillsbury restaurant group that owned Bennigan's.[5]

Locations

Menu[]

Chili's serves American food, Tex-Mex cuisine and dishes influenced by Mexican cuisine,[6] such as spicy shrimp tacos, quesadillas, fajitas.

In addition to their regular menu, the company offers a nutritional menu, allergen menu, and vegetarian menu.[7] In 2016, the "Sunrise Burger" (which includes an egg) and the "Ultimate Bacon Burger" were added to the menu.[8]

In 1990, a breakfast menu consisting of pancakes, waffles, French toast, toast, cereal, eggs and bacon, scrambled eggs, and omelettes was added to Chili's.

On September 8, 2018, the breakfast menu was removed for unspecified reasons.

Advertising[]

"Chili's (Welcome to Chili's!)" is an advertising jingle used in Chili's Restaurant commercials to advertise the restaurant's line of baby back ribs. The song was written by Guy Bommarito and produced by Tom Faulkner Productions for GSD&M Advertising of Austin, Texas. Faulkner sings both "I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...", as well as the melodic theme. The deep "Bar-B-Q sauce" line was sung by famed New York bass vocalist Willie McCoy. A 1996 rendition of the jingle features a doo-wop quartet, Take 6, singing a cappella. Advertising Age magazine named the song first on its list of "10 songs most likely to get stuck in your head" in 2004.[9] In October 2017, the jingle was revived to advertise Chili's new menu, where it was re-conceptualized as "Oh Baby, Chili's is Back (Baby, Back, Baby, Back)".[10]

In 2008, the chain aired parody ads for "P. J. Bland's", a fictional restaurant chain with cardboard foods.[11]

In 2012, Chili's used Wendy Rene's Stax single, "Bar-B-Q", in their TV commercial.[12]

In September 2017, Chili's dropped about 40 percent of its menu items to focus on burgers, ribs, and fajitas.[13]

In February 2020, Chili's announced a new marketing campaign encouraging people to "laugh so hard you pee a little."[14] The new campaign was focused on "Out to 'Ita" and used elements of ASMR.

Locations[]

Asia Europe Middle East North America/Caribbean Central/ South America Africa
India[3] Germany Bahrain Canada Brazil Morocco
Indonesia Russia Jordan Dominican Republic Costa Rica Tunisia
Japan Kuwait Mexico Colombia
Malaysia Lebanon United States Ecuador
Philippines Oman El Salvador
South Korea Qatar Guatemala
Taiwan Saudi Arabia Honduras
China[15] United Arab Emirates Panama
Sri Lanka[16] Egypt Peru
Venezuela
Chile

As of 2015, they have 1,580 locations worldwide, including 839 that are company-owned and 741 that are franchised.[17][18]

Legal problems[]

In October 2008, a Chili's Australia franchise was prosecuted and fined A$300,000 by the NSW Office of Industrial Relations for underpaying staff, pressuring employees to sign an Australian workplace agreement, and failing to pay A$45,000 in owed wages by a deadline set by the Office of Industrial Relations. In the same year, Chili's announced that it would be permanently closing all of its Australian locations indefinitely due to poor sales, unprofitability, and due to the company failing to comply with the Fair Work Act 2009.[19]

In popular culture[]

Chili's was a key location in The Office season 2 episode "The Client". The episode shows Michael and Jan meeting a client at a local Chili's restaurant after Michael had changed the location of the meeting from Radisson citing Chili's as ”the new golf course”. The Chili's jingle was also used in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me where Fat Bastard meets Dr. Evil with the mojo belonging to Austin Powers. When he sees Mini-Me walk out with the money, startling him, he tries to eat him, thinking he is a baby. After attempting to eat Mini-Me, Fat Bastard suggests that Dr. Evil keeps the mojo, and he gets the baby, and then sings the Chili's Babyback Ribs song.

References[]

  1. ^ Brinker International, Inc. (June 29, 2011). "FY 2011 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  2. ^ Brinker International, Inc. (June 29, 2011). "2011 Annual Report to Shareholders". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "American and Mexican Food Restaurant and Bar in India - Chili's India". Chili's Grill & Bar Restaurant.
  4. ^ Brinker publication (October 2007). "Brinker 2007 Corporate report". Brinker International, Inc. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  5. ^ a b "Brinker International". Answers.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  6. ^ "Chili's website". If you're hungry for juicy burgers, Tex-Mex classics, or Mexican-inspired bowls, you've come to the right place.
  7. ^ "Chili's Restaurant Menu". Brinker International. 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  8. ^ Whitten, Sarah (19 July 2016). "Chili's launches new craft hamburgers to battle unsavory sales". CNBC. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  9. ^ "10 Songs most likely to get stuck in your head.(The Book of Tens)". Advertising Age. December 2004. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  10. ^ Pennell, Julie (October 6, 2017). "Chili's revives famous 'baby back ribs' jingle ... but it's a little different". Today. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  11. ^ "Chili's Spoofs Restaurant Ads with 'P.J. Bland's' Campaign". Burger Business. 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  12. ^ "Chili's $20 Dinner for Two TV Commercial, Song by Wendy Rene". iSpot.tv. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  13. ^ "Chili's just cut dozens of items from its menu — here are the beloved dishes that didn't make it". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  14. ^ "Chili's wants you to 'laugh so hard you pee a little' with new campaign". Marketing Dive. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  15. ^ "Chili's (Binjiang Da Dao)". Smart Shanghai. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  16. ^ "Chili's Srilanka".
  17. ^ "Brinker International" (PDF).
  18. ^ "Chilis Franchise Information". www.franchisetimes.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  19. ^ "Fast food chain off the boil". Illawarra Mercury. 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-26.

External links[]

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