Chili’s, which is owned by Brinker International, has been a key player in magnifying the casual dining customer experience through the addition of tabletop tablets and other technological initiatives.
But, Brinker International CEO Wyman Roberts talked about the company’s poor second-quarter performance this week due to various factors, including a Veterans Day incident at a Chili’s restaurant in Cedar Hill, TX, where a U.S. Army veteran had his meal taken from him during a promotion that offered U.S. military veterans free meals to honor their service.
Roberts admitted that the company’s second-quarter results “are not where we want them to be,” but remains confident that its strategic initiatives will remedy that situation.
“We started off fairly strong, and when we talked to you back in October, we were kind of pretty good,” he explained. “Then the brand experienced a situation at one of our Chili’s restaurants on Veterans Day that played out extensively on social media, followed by a couple of very tough weeks where we saw our business gap to the category dropped to a level we hadn’t seen in quite a while. We dealt with that situation by taking the necessary corrective actions as quickly as we could and we closed that gap after about three weeks.”
Unfortunately, the holiday season didn’t help much.
“Q2 was kind of a tale of three cities,” Roberts noted. “It started strong in October and then we had an event at Chili’s in November and then industry-wide challenge in December that created a unique quarter for us,” he added.
Going forward, Roberts said the company is focused on delivering results by leveraging the things that differentiate Brinker.
“First, that we have strong brands and we are committed to investing in them to keep them fresh and relevant,” he said. “Second, that we have scale that enables us to adapt to market needs leading the way in key strategic areas like technology and, finally, we have the unparalleled access to big data to help us make the right decisions, especially that relates to improving the guest experience. At this point, to increase our relevance and to address the headwinds we are facing in casual dining, we know we have to get more focus at Chili’s. Our commitment is to leverage the foundation we’ve built and to take bolder actions we know will make a difference in this environment.”
Specifically, Chili’s is focused on convenience, menu innovation, and value.
“We know consumers are seeking increased convenience and we believe technology plays a big part, being smarter and faster and delivering a better guest experience on their terms in a way that works for our business,” Roberts added. “From a culinary standpoint, we are working to offer great new on-brand innovation across the Chili’s menu. We also introduced some amazing food with our new bar menu as well as our smokehouse platters which are helping us strengthen our points of differentiation with products like Jalapeño Cheese Sausage, Bone and Chicken and our signature Baby Back Ribs, all slow-smoked in-house every day. These are terrific products that have been well received with preference levels above expectations.”
Clearly, Roberts said, this represents the kind of innovation Chili’s has displayed all along.
“We can continue to strengthen our core and eliminate what isn’t working as hard for us, which will reduce complexity and free up our operators to consistently deliver a great experience,” he said.
Founded in 1975 and based in Dallas, Brinker currently owns, operates, or franchises 1,629 restaurants under the names Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy worldwide.