Chili's

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Chili's
Type Restaurant
Founded 1975
Headquarters Dallas, Texas
Industry casual dining restaurant
Website www.chilis.com

Chili's Grill & Bar is a restaurant chain founded by Larry Lavine. The chain has over 1,000 casual dining restaurants, mostly located in the United States and Canada. Chili's is currently owned by Brinker International, which also owns On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, Maggiano's Little Italy, and Romano's Macaroni Grill.

Contents

[edit] History

Chili's first location, a converted postal station on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, Texas, opened on March 13, 1975.[1] 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 22 more Chili's locations in the region, all featuring similar Southwest decor.[2]

In 1983, Lavine sold the company to restaurant executive Norman E. Brinker, formerly of the Pillsbury restaurant group.[2] Chili's now has locations in all 50 U.S. states and 24 international locations, including Canada, Turkey, El Salvador, Peru, Venezuela, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, Taiwan, and the UK. On March 16, 2006, one location opened at Osan Air Base in South Korea, which primarily serves the military community. Chili's opened its 1,000th restaurant on August 3, 2004. Two days later, the first German location, at Ramstein AFB near Kaiserslautern, Germany, opened on August 5, 2004.

On March 7, 2008, five franchise-owned restaurants in Australia were closed. The website was pulled down and staff were told they had lost their jobs. The closure followed a fine of $300,000 to the franchise chain owner after they were found to have underpaid staff and pressured staff into signing Australian Workplace Agreements.[3][4][5] There has been no indication that these stores will reopen.

On May 21, 2009, it was announced that the first Chili's Restaurant in Canada's Toronto, Ontario metropolitan area opened. There are plans for 5 locations this year.[6]

In June, 2009, the UK chain of Chili's went into administration with no warning to staff. The owner of the chain, Hatfield Restaurants, the UK subsidiary of Brinker International, shut the eight UK restaurants. [7] [8]

[edit] Charitable services

During the month of September, Chili's runs the "Create a Pepper" campaign. All of the proceeds are donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Since 2006, on one day a year in September (which is childhood cancer awareness month), the day's profits from all Chili's locations owned by parent company Brinker International are donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In 2007, Chili's opened the Chili's Care Center at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which focuses on brain cancer and treatments. The Chili's Care Center houses the major treatment and research programs for brain tumor and bone marrow transplant patients. Chili's has raised $18.7 million as part of a $50 million commitment to St. Jude over a 10-year period. Once completed, the donation will be the largest donation from a single partner campaign in St. Jude's history. Chili's also contributes to the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the Limbs For Life Foundation.

Chili's in Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Chili's in Santa Clara, California

[edit] Menu

Chili's serves American food influenced by Tex-Mex cuisine. Appetizers include a spicy boneless and bone-in Buffalo wings, sweet "Sweet-Chile Glazed wings", nachos with various toppings, Southwestern eggrolls, the Triple Dipper, spinach and artichoke dip, tostada chips and salsa, and a spiced cheese dip the company calls "Skillet Queso". Entrées include hamburgers which the company calls "Big Mouth Burgers", fajitas, quesadillas, baby back ribs and seafood. Chili's also serves a variety of alcoholic drinks and desserts, including such items as a molten chocolate cake and cheesecake. Chili's also offers a "Pepper Pals" kids' menu for children ages 12 and under which includes kid-friendly items such as "Little Mouth" burgers, "Little Chicken Crispers", macaroni & cheese, grilled chicken, and pizza, as well as a variety of different side items.

[edit] 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 ad features a doo-wop quartet singing a cappella:

The song was written by Guy Bommarito and produced by Tom Faulkner for GSD&M Advertising of Austin, Texas.

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 2009, the chain aired parody ads for "P. J. Bland's", a fictional restaurant chain with cardboard foods.[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brinker publication (October 2007). "Brinker 2007 Corporate report". Brinker International, Inc.. http://www.brinker.com/company/brinker2007/01/page08.htm. Retrieved on 2007-12-19. 
  2. ^ a b "Brinker International". Answers.com. https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Brinker-International-Inc-Company-History.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-19. 
  3. ^ Illawarra Mercury (March 2008). "Fast food chain off the boil". Illawarra Mercury. http://illawarra.yourguide.com.au/articles/1197615.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-24. 
  4. ^ ABC News (2007-09-26). "Chili's staff 'underpaid' $46,000 on AWAs". http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/26/2043404.htm. 
  5. ^ "Workplace Ombudsman Secures Second Penalty against Chili’s Restaurant". 2008-04-22. http://www.wo.gov.au/asp/index.asp?sid=7407&page=mediacentre-current-view&cid=5390&id=816. 
  6. ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2009/05/18/daily49.html
  7. ^ http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/displayarticle.asp?id=426207#commentsl
  8. ^ http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2052823_45_jobs_axed_as_chilis_closes
  9. ^ "10 Songs most likely to get stuck in your head.(The Book of Tens)". Advertising Age.. December 2004. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6398/is_200412/ai_n26182606?tag=artBody;col1. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. 
  10. ^ "Chili’s Spoofs Restaurant Ads with ‘P.J. Bland’s’ Campaign". Burger Business. 2009-04-15. http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=941. Retrieved on 2009-04-28. 

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Brinker International
People
Larry Lavine (Chili's founder) · Norman E. Brinker (Chairman Emeritus) · Douglas H. (Doug) Brooks (CEO) · Charles M. (Chuck) Sonsteby (CFO) · Michael B. (Happy) Webberman (EVP)
Food
Related companies
Websites
Annual Revenue: ▲ $4,376.9 million (USD) (2007) · Employees: 113,900 (2007) · Stock Symbol: NYSE: EAT · Website: Brinker family restaurants
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