Chili's Grill & Bar (stylized aschili's) is an Americancasual dining restaurant chain[3] founded by Larry Lavine in Texas in 1975 and is currently owned and operated byBrinker International.
Chili's first location, a converted postal station on Greenville Avenue in theVickery Meadows area ofDallas, Texas, opened in 1975. The original Chili's on Greenville Avenue moved to a new building on the same site in 1981; it relocated again in 2007.[4]
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 grew larger, and by the early 1980s, there were 28 Chili's locations in the region, all featuring similarSouthwest decor.[5]
The restaurant was named Chili's because they had chili on the menu and "figured it was something people would talk about," according to a 2022 interview with Lavine.[6]
"Chili's (Welcome to Chili's!)" is anadvertising jingle used in Chili's Restaurant commercials to advertise the restaurant's line ofbaby back ribs. The song was written by Guy Bommarito and produced by Tom Faulkner Productions for GSD&M Advertising ofAustin, Texas. Faulkner sings both "I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs..." (Which is similar to theTommy James song "Draggin' the Line"), as well as the melodic theme. The deep "Bar-B-Q sauce" line was sung by famed New York bass vocalist Willie McCoy. A 1996 rendition of the jingle features adoo-wop quartet,Take 6, singinga cappella.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 October 2017, the jingle was revived to advertise Chili's new menu, where it was re-conceptualized as "Oh Baby, Chili's is Back (Baby, Back, Baby, Back)."[10]
In 2008, the chain aired parody ads for "P. J. Bland's," a fictional restaurant chain with cardboard foods.[11] In 2012, Chili's usedWendy Rene'sStax single, "Bar-B-Q," in their TV commercial.[12] In September 2017, Chili's dropped about 40 percent of its menu items to focus on burgers, ribs, and fajitas.[13]
In February 2020 Chili's announced a new marketing campaign encouraging people to "laugh so hard you pee a little."[14] In September 2024, Chili's announced that its advertisement campaign was working, while other food chains in the USA still struggled to entice diners into their stores. Store sales increased 14.8 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter for Chili's.[15]
In 2024, the Chili's restaurant chain obtained the license forBurgerTime to create a browser-based game calledChili’s Big Smasher BurgerTime. In this version of the game, players control the franchise mascot Joe ChiliHead in a quest to create Big Smasher Burgers across six levels of gameplay. Players who participated also had the chance to win prizes such as free burgers for life.[16]
Chili's operates in the follow countries and territories:
Asia/Oceania: China,[17] Guam,[3] India,[3] Indonesia,[18] Japan (only in U.S military bases), Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka,[19] Taiwan
North America/Caribbean: United States, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico
South America/Central America: Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Peru
Middle East: Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates
Europe: Germany (only in U.S military bases), Romania
In October 2008, a Chili's Australia franchise was prosecuted and finedA$300,000 (equivalent to $416,240 in 2022) by theNSW Office of Industrial Relations for underpaying staff, pressuring employees to sign anAustralian workplace agreement, and failing to payA$45,000 (equivalent to $62,436 in 2022) in owed wages by a deadline set by the Office of Industrial Relations. In the same year, Chili's announced the permanent closure of all its Australian locations due to poor sales, unprofitability, and non-compliance with theFair Work Act 2009.[20]
In July 2024, Americanrap rock group theBeastie Boys filed a lawsuit against Chili's parent company Brinker International forcopyright infringement, claiming that the group's 1994 song "Sabotage" has been illegally used to promote Chili's in advertisements on social media starting around November 2022.[21]
2008: On June 5, a woman from Washington named Anne Paskett filed a class-action suit against Brinker International. Paskett and the rest of the plaintiffs claimed that the restaurant chain's so-called healthier offerings, like the Chili's "Guiltless Black Bean Burger" have nutritional values much different than the ones listed on the menu. Independent laboratory tests were conducted, discovering that the fat content of the items are sometimes double, or even triple, the amount shown on these menus.[22]
2009: Brinker International fired a Chili's employee for the claim ofsexual harassment, only to employ her again after the public outrage. They claimed that her termination was a computer error.[23]
2018: Brinker International disclosed that its data network had been breached between March and April 2018, exposing the personally identifiable information of its customers. Subsequently, several customers of Chili's filed suit against the company, alleging that its failure to comply with industry standards forinformation security and implement adequate data security measures to protect its data networks from the potential danger of a data breach had caused them to incur fraudulent charges on their payment cards.[24]
2019: Chili's Restaurant was fined after an employee fell into a vat of scalding water.[25]
2020: Brinker International and its Chili's subsidiary paidUS$150,000 to settle sexual harassment allegations from five female employees.[26]
Chili's was a key location inThe Office season 2 episode 7 "The Client." The episode shows Michael and Jan meeting a client at a local Chili's restaurant after Michael had changed the location of the meeting fromRadisson citing Chili's as "the new golf course." It was also featured in another season 2 episode, "The Dundies".
On April 7, 2025, the chain opened "The Scranton Branch", an Office themed Chili’s based on the one featured in the show. The Scranton restaurant is the only one in the chain to feature the Awesome Blossom, which was removed from the full menu in 2008.
The Chili's jingle was also used inAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me whereFat Bastard meetsDr. Evil with the mojo belonging toAustin Powers. When he seesMini-Me walk out with the money, startling him, he tries to eat him, thinking he is a baby. After attempting to eat Mini-Me, Fat Bastard suggests that Dr. Evil keeps the mojo, and he gets the baby, and then sings the Chili's Babyback Ribs song.
In Season one ofThat '90s Show, the recurring character,Fez, mentions Chili's is the location where he and his current lover had met, also making a reference to the Babyback Ribs jingle.[citation needed]
On July 22, 2025, Austin, Texas-basedTecovas announced a collaboration with Chili's wherein Tecovas would sell boots out of "genuine Chili’s Booths". The boots retailed for $345.[30]
^Brinker International, Inc. (June 29, 2011)."FY 2011 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. RetrievedApril 17, 2012.
^Brinker International, Inc. (June 29, 2011)."2011 Annual Report to Shareholders". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. RetrievedApril 17, 2012.
^Brinker publication (October 2007)."Brinker 2007 Corporate report". Brinker International, Inc.Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. RetrievedDecember 19, 2007.
^"Chili's website".Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. RetrievedDecember 8, 2020.If you're hungry for juicy burgers, Tex-Mex classics, or Mexican-inspired bowls, you've come to the right place.
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