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Chili\u2019s has had a major comeback in recent years. The casual dining chain turned 50 last year, and recently reported 20 consecutive quarters of growth.<\/p>\n
Chili\u2019s CEO Kevin Hochman told Business Insider<\/em><\/a> that the success of the chain boils down to two things: marketing and operations. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have a saying here: Marketing brings them in, and ops brings them back,\u201d Hochman told BI<\/em>.<\/p>\n Hochman shared this sentiment with analysts and investors during an earnings call last year. It\u2019s clear that the Tex-Mex chain has continued to lean in on that strategy.<\/p>\n “The marketing has to be exciting,” Hochman said. “And then the operators are in charge of creating that experience.”<\/p>\n Chili\u2019s growth also has something to do with the chain\u2019s Triple Dipper, the pick-three appetizer combo, which accounted for 14% of Chili\u2019s total sales last year.<\/p>\n Last year, the impressive cheese pull of Chili’s deep-fried mozzarella sticks\u2014one of the Triple Dipper appetizer options\u2014went viral on social media. NPR reported that the company sold 41 million<\/a> Triple Dippers in fiscal year 2025. Once the mozzarella sticks skyrocketed in popularity, the chain introduced new flavors to add to the hype.<\/p>\n “Essentially, 100% of that can be attributed to social media,” Chili’s CMO George Felix told NPR.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aside from the Triple Dipper breaking the internet, Hochman said that Chili\u2019s is focused on making the restaurant experience the best it can be, including food quality, cleanliness, and quick service.\u00a0<\/p>\n “These are the things nobody talks about,” he told BI<\/em>. “But the everyday stuff\u2014that makes us better and better. That’s kind of been our secret sauce.”<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Hochman said that upgrading existing menu items\u2014such as tripling the amount of bacon<\/a> in Chili’s bacon cheeseburger\u2014and offering different portion sizes helped boost sales.<\/p>\n Hochman joined the company in 2022, and under his leadership, Chili\u2019s had a comparable restaurant sales growth of 8.6% during the second quarter of 2026, and 4% growth in the third quarter. The chain holds the No. 2 spot in the U.S. for casual dining, second only to Texas Roadhouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n “If you go to a competitor and the same burger is a dollar less than ours, but it doesn’t look like it did in the ad, it doesn’t matter whether it was a dollar less,” Hochman told BI<\/em>. “In my mind, that’s money I should have spent somewhere else.”<\/p>\n Chili\u2019s has challenged its competitors in the past. In 2024, the restaurant launched a campaign for its \u201cBig Smasher\u201d burger that promised \u201ctwice the beef as a Big Mac.\u201d The restaurant\u2019s most recent marketing strategy<\/a> also took a dig at competitors when it asked customers to compare its newly released crispy chicken sandwich to other contenders in the market.<\/p>\n With a few more viral cheese pulls and jabs at competitors, Hochman\u2019s strategy could continue carrying Chili\u2019s through its turnaround.<\/p>\n