Chili’s Grill & Bar is a legacy brand that has found new footing in today’s foodservice landscape. Pushing this casual-dining icon into the zeitgeist is a successful social media presence, which can be credited to both savvy tactics as well as organic momentum. Whatever the magic behind the success, Chili’s is having a moment. Its culinary roadmap has stayed the course over its 50 years in market—innovating within ubiquity, but giving that “safe” innovation creative twists and brand-specific touches. We sat down with Brian Paquette, director of culinary, to talk about menu innovation, newfound guests and the enduring allure of a cheese pull.

Brian Paquette

Katie Ayoub: Chili’s is seeing remarkable success today. From a culinary POV, what is behind that?
Brian Paquette: We just celebrated our 50th anniversary, which is crazy. From a culinary perspective, we try to make sure that we’re universally appealing. I think so many brands are working hard to fill gaps that may or may not be there. We have taken a clear direction to shoot at the middle. The food looks good, the food tastes good—and we’re working hard to deliver a better experience. We’re not out there creating big new things; we’re just making sure what we have is outstanding and that it’s as good as it can be.

KA: We have to talk about the phenomenon behind the Triple Dipper cheese pull, which has more than 200 million views on TikTok. Why has it found such a big fan base on social media, particularly with younger consumers? Certainly, value and variety play into it, but what else?
BP: The Triple Dipper is really an experience—it’s not just a meal. That plays out really well in the social arena. For TikTok specifically, its success is all about the dipping, the choices, the variety, the viral cheese pull. It’s reaching that new guest that wasn’t at Chili’s—or hadn’t been here in a long time. With the Triple Dipper, guests get to try a breadth of things and maybe find their new favorite; they get a taste, and maybe later it inspires them to buy the bigger items. It also gives us the opportunity to promote new flavors that we’re excited about.

Credit: Chili's

The Triple Dipper shareable at Chili’s lets guests choose their own appetizer adventure, from the viral Nashville Hot Mozzarella to Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers to Big Mouth Bites sliders, served with a variety of dipping sauces, including housemade ranch and marinara.

KA: With value playing such a huge role today, how do you approach the value equation for today’s diner?
BP: Our goal is to offer intrinsic value. And promotions like the “3 For Me” for $10.99—that’s just an unbelievable value. It’s our leading value offer. Another value for our diners is the experience at Chili’s—plenty of food, the price is right and the hospitality is spot on. It’s important to deliver the experience that guests feel they deserve.

Credit: Chili's

The Big Smasher Burger at Chili’s is a value-focused hero in its “3 For Me” promotion, where diners choose an entrée, appetizer and drink for $10.99. The burger features Thousand Island dressing, American cheese, red onions, pickles and lettuce.

KA: How do you filter today’s trends?
BP: Just because we shoot the middle, doesn’t mean we don’t want to know what’s going on in the trends landscape and how we can leverage ones that fit our brand. So, we’re exploring, tasting, dining out—uncovering what those trends are. At the end of the day, we’re going to land the plane when things start turning the corner from proliferation into ubiquity, and then we’re going to innovate in that space and do it really, really well. Nashville hot is a great example for us. We didn’t touch it until it reached broad acceptance and familiarity in the marketplace. We then put it through the Chili’s lens and came up with our very successful Nashville Hot Mozzarella.

KA: What is your biggest challenge in flavor innovation?
BP: The biggest challenge for us is that we need to shoot the middle. We’ve got to satisfy a large audience and offer broad appeal. That can be limiting. I can’t lean into some of the trends that aren’t middle-of-the-road flavors. As a flavor developer and as a chef, that can be somewhat stifling. I think there are plenty of people in my position at other restaurant brands who would find those limitations challenging. I find the challenges to be really exciting because it gives you tight parameters on where to play—creating food that is universally appealing and that will ultimately lead to guests enjoying their meals and coming back for more. That, to me, is the most exciting piece of the business.

QUICKFIRE

Source of inspiration:
I’m always looking at TikTok and Instagram. What are people excited about? What are people trying? A lot of local restaurants pop up on my feed. There’s a lot happening in the Dallas restaurant scene today, which is exciting and fun to watch.

Something in your fridge that would surprise people:
My son, who’s now 22, officially started drinking at 21. Sour ales have been something that he’s had a lot of interest in. So to align with him and to see what he’s up to, we just started tasting all kinds of these sour ales. My fridge is stocked with them now!

Cuisine or ingredient you’re particularly excited to explore:
Japanese food. I think it’s remarkable. The food is super-approachable while being exciting and new.

Your go-to late-night snack:
When I was a kid in school, we used to get dates in little cups. It was torture back then, but now? I can’t get enough of them. Dates with peanut butter and dark chocolate—great snack any time of day.

Best bite you’ve had recently:
We recently went on a barbecue dine-around. The burnt ends at Pecan Lodge here in Dallas were incredible. They got it right.