Chili's Comeback, Decoded

Chili's now goes through 65 million pounds of mozzarella a year, up from just 12 million four years ago. The reason traces back to a single TikTok video of a cheese pull that quietly turned a decade-old menu item into one of the biggest comeback stories in restaurant history. Today, Sammi breaks down exactly how Chili's pulled off what one analyst called the best turnaround in restaurant history. She digs into the operational fixes nobody saw coming, from a shrimp-counting ritual that wasted hours of labor every day to a salt shaker redesign that cut seasoning time by more than 80 percent. She also traces how CEO Kevin Hochman, who came from Procter & Gamble and Yum Brands, rebuilt the kitchen experience from the inside out while his marketing team leaned into the viral moment instead of manufacturing one. Then, Sammi unpacks the marketing engine behind the comeback, including the Triple Dipper's rise from a forgotten combo platter to 16 percent of total sales, the launch of Nashville Hot Mozzarella, and nostalgia plays like the Boyz II Men jingle and the Margarita of the Month program. Finally, she reveals the number buried in Chili's most recent earnings report that complicates the celebratory headlines, and what it means for the road ahead, including the struggles at sister brand Maggiano's Little Italy. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter Here's What Sammi Covers Today: 00:00 Chili's Mozzarella Explosion 01:30 Sammi's Intro to the Story 01:40 How Far Chili's Had Fallen 02:20 Kevin Hochman Takes Over 02:50 "Marketing Brings Them In, Ops Brings Them Back" 03:13 The Listening Tour That Started It All 03:29 The Shrimp-Counting Fix 03:54 The Ordering Glitch Costing 15 Plates a Night 04:15 The iPad and Wi-Fi Overhaul 04:33 The Salt Shaker Fix 04:53 Cutting the Menu and Adding Staff 05:13 Reformulating the Food 05:41 The Viral Cheese Pull Video 06:17 The Triple Dipper's Sales Surge 06:57 The Launch of Nashville Hot Mozzarella 07:30 Nostalgia Marketing: Boyz II Men and Margarita of the Month 08:05 The Three for Me Deal and "Value Theater" 08:24 The Numbers Behind the Comeback 09:11 Rolling Out the Retro Redesign 09:19 The Number That Complicates the Story 09:36 Why Traffic Is Actually Down 10:00 Maggiano's Little Italy Struggles 10:24 What's Next for Chili's 11:27 How to Show Social Currency Some Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices