Chili’s sold close to 30 million margaritas last year — more than any other restaurant brand in the United States. The brand has just closed its twenty-first consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth. And the loyalty program sitting underneath that run has spent the last two years getting simpler, not bigger.
And casual dining may be one of the hardest categories for loyalty. Visit frequency is low, margins are thin, the consumer has been trained on discounts for forty years, and the experience is delivered by people rather than an app. The reflex in that environment is to add: more points, more tiers, more offers. BUT Chili’s went the other way! Listen in to learn how and why.
