Chili’s blazing hot run continued in its fiscal third quarter.
Same-store sales rose 4 percent, marking the brand’s 20th straight quarter of positive growth. These results lapped 31 percent growth from last year, giving Chili’s a two-year comp of over 35 percent. Winter Storm Blair impacted January sales, but the brand returned to 5.9 percent same-store sales growth in February and March, with positive traffic.
Chili’s outpaced the casual-dining industry by 4.2 percent in Q3, including 3.2 percent in February and 5.5 percent in March. This trend has continued in Q4, with 5.6 percent outperformance month-to-date in April. The company has been comping in the mid-single digits in April, fueled by positive traffic, lapping 29 percent growth in April 2025.
AUV is nearing $5 million, up from the $3 million mark Chili’s was at before its unprecedented multi-year run.
This puts things into perspective: after seeing around a 15 percent increase in sales in 2024, the chain grew by 21 percent in 2025 and added nearly $1 billion in sales, which would surpass the annual sales of many large chains, like Bob Evans, Hooters, and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.
“Our outperformance versus the industry is accelerating, and we remain confident we will lap the fourth quarter with mid-single-digit sales and positive traffic at Chili’s,” CFO Mika Ware said during the brand’s Q3 earnings call. “Looking ahead, our results show that our strategy is sustainable and that we’re positioned for continued growth. At Chili’s, we will build on our momentum by continuing to bring in new guests and drive loyalty through relevant and innovative marketing, menu innovation, and strong operations in our industry-leading everyday value.”
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Still, as a public company, the brand lives in a “What have you done for me lately?” world. CEO Kevin Hochman and his team are often asked whether the chain has capacity for more traffic growth in future quarters and years.
The answer, quite simply, is yes.
Hochman said average traffic is back at 2013 levels, but that’s 20 percent fewer weekly guests from Chili’s peak during 2000 to 2005. Additionally, the company’s North of Six restaurants (those that earn above $6 million in AUV) serve between 20 to 80 percent more customers than the average, letting Hochman and his team know that restaurants are capable of much more if conditions are right.
Menu is a big reason. Chili’s has spent years reimagining its Chicken Crispers, burgers, margaritas, queso and nachos, and fajitas. It also brought innovation to its Triple Dipper (mixing 16 percent as of now) after the platform soared in sales from social media popularity. Salad and steaks are next on the list.
Chili’s introduced an upgraded chicken sandwich lineup in April, including the Big Crispy and Spicy Big Crispy as part of its $10.99 3 for Me menu. For a more premium experience, the brand added Nashville Hot, Honey-Chipotle, Buffalo, and Deluxe flavors, all served with house-made ranch. The company claims that its filet—hand-breaded in-house instead of frozen and reheated—is over 80 percent bigger than McDonald’s McCrispy’s chicken filet.
The sandwiches have only been in market for two weeks, with just one week on TV, but results are already promising. The revitalized chicken sandwich platform is selling 161 percent more sandwiches than pre-launch and “significantly outpacing” what Chili’s saw in its 200 test locations.
“We’ve heard mostly very, very positive, both in the reviews that we see online as well as in talking to our team members,” said Hochman, referring to feedback around the chicken sandwich. “You know, the first thing that people tend to say when they see it is, ‘Oh my goodness, this is a really big sandwich,’ which is exactly what we’re going for.”
The chain also believes it has a ways to go when it comes to improving foodservice and atmosphere.
One big priority is speeding up the cycle time of guests coming in and leaving restaurants.
“If one of our restaurants are on a wait on the weekend, the average wait time is about 15 minutes, 20 minutes,” Hochman said. “That number is pretty good, but remember, that’s just an average, which means there are about half our restaurants with longer waits. We have enterprise project teams studying every bit of that wait to understand what are the bottlenecks we need to remove to reduce that cycle time.”
Chili’s is taking lessons from its North of Six restaurants and applying them systemwide. One example is at the host stand, where these higher-volume stores typically have more staffing than required or have more senior level staffing manning the front during peak times. These stores are also effectively using software that keeps track of seating, enabling them to provide more accurate wait times.
On the technology front, Chili’s is continuing to enhance its KDS system and has begun a broader back-of-house transformation, upgrading outdated systems to improve throughput and team member retention. The brand is also nearing completion of its rollout of upgraded handheld devices for servers. While the process was briefly slowed by technical glitches, those issues have been resolved, and Hochman expects the rollout to be finished next quarter.
Another priority is reducing friction at the point of payment with Ziosk—such as discounts not applying correctly or guests entering incorrect tip amounts—both of which require a manager to step in and can delay table turns. Hochman said these errors occur about seven times a day; when aggregated systemwide, the resulting delays add up to more than 20 years of wait time.
Additionally, Chili’s has a cross-functional team dedicated to monitoring restaurant equipment and formulating the right packages for future higher-volume locations.
“We’re moving from kind of defense of just removing a bunch of stuff and making it much easier for our team members to operate. We’re now moving to offense on accelerating cycle time. Whether that’s the host stand, whether that’s ticket times,” Hochman said. “You know, a great example we’ll see in very busy restaurants is their ticket times will be a little bit inflated. We’ll go to the labor card to understand are they scheduling enough cooks? The answer is no. It’s like, that’s a clear indicated action that we can continue to take on more traffic and get those ticket times down.”
When it comes to atmosphere, Chili’s is advancing a reimaging program focused largely on exterior updates, refreshed dining room paint, and the removal of unpopular community tables. The brand has completed four remodels so far, each at varying investment levels but generating similar sales lifts. The next eight to 10 units, slated over the next three months, will help determine where to invest—and where not to—as the company refines its approach, according to CEO Kevin Hochman. By the time Chili’s scales to 60 to 80 reimages in fiscal 2027 and reaches a 10 percent annual cadence in fiscal 2028, it hopes to move forward with the most effective package and strongest return on investment.
As for the future, Hochman said the brand is beginning to see some signs of check management, particularly in desserts and alcohol, even as traffic accelerates following the chicken sandwich launch. While alcohol sales remain elevated overall, he noted some softening in incidence. Despite the mixed signals, Hochman emphasized the importance of focusing on controllable factors, including delivering strong food, service, and atmosphere, as well as maintaining industry-leading value. He added that Chili’s will continue to prioritize proper staffing during peak periods to support execution, regardless of macroeconomic pressures.
“We can control serving great food and with wonderful service, in a clean, inviting environment,” Hochman said. “If we continue to do that, we’ll continue to grow market share. We’ll be able to hang on to our business, and then obviously, if the macro gets any better, we’ll be able to grow even faster behind that. You know, I’m kinda like a broken record on it. It doesn’t matter what happens with the macro. It doesn’t matter what happens with external factors. Our indicated action for this team is improve food service and atmosphere and good things will happen, and we’re just gonna stay focused on that.”
Chili’s finished Q3 with 1,210 U.S. restaurants and 371 international stores.
