Chili’s

Chili’s Grill & Bar trades from more than 1,600 restaurants across the United States, 28 other countries and two US territories. The chain started as a Dallas hamburger room. Big Mouth Burgers, sizzling fajitas and baby back ribs run the board it is known for today. Norman Brinker bought it in 1983, and the company still carries his name.

Chili’s history, the company that grew out of it, and the shape of the estate today fill the section below.

Chili’s History

Larry Lavine opened the first Chili’s in a converted postal station on Greenville Avenue in Dallas in 1975. Vickery Meadows put the room among houses rather than out on a highway. Hamburgers ran that first board, offered at an affordable price inside an informal full-service dining room rather than a counter queue. The name came off the chili, which Lavine reckoned was something people would talk about. Table service at counter-service money was the idea.

Norman Brinker bought the chain in 1983. Brinker pushed it towards the format casual dining still runs on, and company restaurants and franchised ones have run side by side ever since. Chili’s Inc. became Brinker International in 1991, once the company held more than the one brand. Maggiano’s Little Italy joined the group and remains the other name on it. Texas has held the head office throughout, in Dallas and then in Coppell.

Brinker owns, operates or franchises more than 1,600 restaurants across the United States, 28 other countries and two US territories. Chili’s carries almost all of that estate. Maggiano’s Little Italy holds the small remainder, and company restaurants outnumber franchised ones across the American side of the business. Five years of trading put the chain’s cumulative same-store sales rise at 71 percent. Growth over that run has come from traffic rather than from price alone.

Chili’s Menus & Details

Four pages carry the detail behind the bar and the kitchen. Each one puts an item name and the figures that belong to it on the same row.

The full board, section by section, with a price and a calorie figure beside every item.

Off-menu builds, the wording to use at the table, and the item each one is charged as.

Milk, egg, soy, wheat and fish named against each item, with the calorie count beside it.

The bar deals, the days and hours they run, and what each pour comes to.