Dive Brief:
- Brinker International is working on a new prototype design for Chili’s, which will lead to a store refresh, CFO Mika Ware said Wednesday during an earnings call.
- Once a new prototype is determined, Chili’s will roll out the redesign across 100 locations annually, CEO Kevin Hochman said.
- The company currently has 200 units it’s prioritizing for a new image because they haven't been updated in 20 to 30 years, Hochman added. Chili’s has 1,200 units in the U.S., the bulk of which are company owned.
Dive Insight:
The chain has gained significant sales and traffic momentum, allowing it to rethink its restaurant designs. The company posted record-breaking comparable sales growth of over 31% for fiscal Q2 2025, driven by a 20% increase in traffic, after quarters of heavy marketing over its value proposition and its popular Triple Dipper menu item.
Executives said it was too early in the process to share particulars about the new prototypes in terms of scope and cost. Ware said that Brinker isn’t afraid to invest more money into its capital allocation plans since it has already spent millions of dollars on improving operations.
“The foundation of our strategy is you have to invest in the business to grow it,” Ware said. “You can’t try to micromanage every single investment because then you can get nowhere. … We’ll ramp up as fast as the system can digest it.”
The only updates to the physical buildings the chain has made recently have been related to repair and maintenance, Hochman said. That work has included fixing leaky roofs and bathrooms and replacing 1,000 “sticky tables” that were damaged during the cleaning processes enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hochman said.
Redesigns have been a growing focus for many other brands looking to freshen their image and improve customer traffic. Potbelly, Burger King, Perkins, Workworks and Marco’s, have all announced reimaging programs. Burger King remodels led to double-digit sales lifts last year, for example.
