WEBVTT - Chili’s Cultural Relevance Boosts Traffic 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.080 Welcome to Chopping It Up. I'm your host, Mike Hanlon, 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.120 the senior Restaurant and Food Service Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.680 Our research and that a bi's five hundred analysts around 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:35.440 the globe can be found exclusively on the Bloomberg terminal. Today, 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.760 we're joined by George Felix, chief marketing officer of Chili's 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.319 Grill and Bar. So in my research, I noticed you're 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.199 a Notre Dame guy. That was a tough loss last week, George. 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:48.839 Yeah, Mike, I wish we would have talked maybe a 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.159 week before. That was a far far better time for 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:53.760 the fighting Irish. 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:55.800 Yeah, it was. It was pretty rough. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:57.640 My family and I went to the text A and 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:02.040 M game. We were riding high and then obviously major 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.000 letdown last week. So we'll see if they can they 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:08.319 can rally the troops and uh and recover. But still 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:09.720 still can't believe it. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.399 Well, the good thing about the extended playoff scenario is 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:15.920 that you know you're not finished after one loss, so 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:16.759 so they're still in it. 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.600 That's right, Still still still some hope. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.080 Yeah. I'll be in South Bend next week for the 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.080 game against Miami of Ohio. It's going to be my 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:25.960 first time over there. 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.240 Oh nice, we'll have to we'll catch up offline on 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:30.800 on on all the spots you got to hit. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.480 I'm going to be there the week after for the 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:34.120 Louisville game. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.600 Okay, awesome. Yeah, you read my mind about the spots, 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:39.800 all right, good stuff, So I'll definitely pick your brain. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:40.640 Okay. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.680 So for those of you that aren't familiar with George, 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.240 he's worked on some of the most iconic campaigns I 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:51.240 can remember Old Spices, Smell like a Man Man KFC's 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:56.680 Colonel campaign, you know. Jim Gaffikin was was phenomenal. He 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.800 was so funny. But the extra crispy Colonel I think 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:03.680 was my favorite. Oh yeah, so good at George Hamilton. 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.400 But do you do any of those hold a soft 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:07.200 spot in your heart? 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.240 They all do, to be honest with you, like, I 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.480 learned a ton from from getting to be a part 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:17.120 of great brands. Uh, you know, the Old Spice work, 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.519 you know, definitely holds a special spot in my heart, 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.520 just because it's the It's literally the first thing I 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.440 worked on, you know, when I when I got into 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.000 marketing and at a business school and and so getting 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:28.880 to work with the people I did. We had a 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.320 great team at Old Spice, an amazing agency, Widen and Kennedy. 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.839 It was it was probably the best, the best way 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.720 to start a career. I was worried that like that 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:40.240 was going to be the only thing I ever I 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.960 ever did, But thankfully I've been able to work with 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.680 some great brands and some great people along the way. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.440 But that thing happened. It was wild because like it 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.360 was not planned. It was all kind of in response 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.639 to a competitive launch in market, and it happened in 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.840 the matter of months. And so it taught me a 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.760 few things. One like, sometimes when you don't have as 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.800 much time you make, you can make better decisions because 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.080 you don't overthink things and you kind of go, you 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.280 go with your gut and uh, and we did that 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.400 a lot on that. And then the second part was, Uh, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.359 creativity can really be a way to solve business problems. 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.640 And I think that's something that I've tried to carry 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:24.800 through through my career since then. So certainly that one 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.320 has a has a special place for me, just because 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.200 it was it was the first one and really kind 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:32.600 of got me hooked on on on brand, brand building 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:34.960 and and and trying to make breakthrough creative. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.560 Yeah, it was phenomenal. And Andre, are are you like 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:40.440 a parent and you're not allowed to admit it? Or 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.000 do you have a favorite kernel. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:45.720 Let's see now that i'm you know, now that I'm 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.040 off KFC, I guess I could probably answer that. I mean, 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.160 they were there were so many great ones, so uh, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.760 you know, there's there's something fun on each one, but 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.160 probably Norm MacDonald, I would say, And you know, rest 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.400 in peace, Norm, But he really kind of got that 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.440 thing moving for us, so that you know, that holds 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.920 a special place for me. But man, just getting to 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:10.480 you know, he was he was one of our longer 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.240 running kernels, so we had several several shoots with him, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.560 and he was phenomenal to be with on set. He 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.400 had us just dying laughing, you know, offset and just 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.480 the stories and just such a such a nice guy. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:25.680 So I think I. 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.840 Think Norm Norm would probably be my number one. His 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:30.760 Twitter account, I don't know if you ever followed Norm 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.039 on Twitter, it was unbelievable. He just just randomly on 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.760 a Sunday afternoon, just live tweet like a really super 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.400 random golf tournament, like for no reason. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.039 I mean, and it's amazing too, how how his like 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:49.039 old like late night TV clips are all over Instagram 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:50.640 and TikTok killed it forever. 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.240 Man. Oh yeah, he had this great he had this 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:54.000 great story. 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.200 H He was telling us like he was like his 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.120 son came up to him and was like, oh, man, Dad, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.839 have you seen Seth Myers on Weekend Update on SNL. 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.960 He's so funny. And Norm just looked at him and said, 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:06.520 do you even know how time works? 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:07.279 I did that. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.479 I was way better than him, like twenty years before. 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:15.720 That's fantastic. 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:15.960 Man. 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.360 Yeah, So I didn't realize that you work for Kevin 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.120 Hawkman CEO Kevin Hackman at P and G as well 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.320 as Young Brand. So he must be a great boss. 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:25.919 He sure is. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.080 Yeah, yeah, he He and I have been together since 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.640 I guess two thousand and eight. The summer of two 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.200 thousand and eight, I was in a business school intern 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.039 at Procter and Gamble working on the Old Spice brand, 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.400 and he was the marketing director there, and so I 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.760 worked for James Morehead was our brand manager, and James 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.080 worked for Kevin, and those two guys really, you know, 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:52.400 really responsible for me getting into marketing, and they taught 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.520 me a ton and so Yeah, Kevin. Kevin hired me 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.919 there and we worked together at P and G and 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.800 then I follow him to a few more stops. So 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.640 I think this is our our fourth brand that we've 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:05.360 worked on together. 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.640 Very cool. So what is it about the CpG marketing 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.120 guys tend to do pretty well in restaurants? 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.599 What is it that's That's a good question. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:16.880 I don't know if I totally have the answer, but 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.720 you know, I think CpG is Personally, I think it's uh, 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.360 there isn't a better place to learn about brand building 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.680 and marketing than the CpG and certainly Procter and Gamble. 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.080 You know, for me, it was it was almost like 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.240 getting another MBA, to be honest, like the training you 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.640 get I still reference to this day so many of 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.000 the things that I learned there in my first few 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:43.080 years there. And so I think, I think there's just 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.680 a really strong foundation. So I don't know if it's 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.200 just in the food industry, to be honest, I'm guessing 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.359 CpG marketers probably do well in a in a host 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.600 of industries. And then you know, I think I think 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.239 the big change for a CpG marketer moving into food 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.839 is the is the pace And that was the biggest change. 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.040 And Kevin told me that when when when I joined 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.839 him at Young and uh, you know, I don't know 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.640 if that's for everybody, but you know, I think CpG 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.400 has a very slow pace, right, like just by nature 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.320 of the product development life cycle and selling it into 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.520 the retailers and and all that. Whereas you know, food, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.720 you know, you get results every single day, right, you 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.200 get a sales report every morning, and and and you're 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.920 you're being judged on a much different timeframe. And so 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.480 I think some people, you know, take that that base 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.000 foundation they learn and CpG on how to build a brand, 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.560 and then really are able to apply that into a 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.080 retail business that that you can move move quickly on. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.360 And I think that that tends to be a pretty 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:42.000 good combination. 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:45.520 Great all right, So other than than Kevin, what attracted 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:46.600 you to Chili's. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.040 Well, it's, uh, it's a great brand, uh, you know, 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.560 there's it's one of those places where when I when 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.320 I tell when I tell people I work at Chili's, 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.560 like generally speaking, they all a smile kind of comes 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.560 to their face. And and it's a brand that that 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.600 people have fond memories of, whether it's you know, a 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:06.680 family with friends, maybe first dates, you know, after baseball games, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.760 whatever the case may be. And uh, it's a brand 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.920 that people kind of root for, I would say, like, 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.080 which is not always the case with brands. And so 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.120 you know, for me, you know, I've I've worked on 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.560 several kind of turnaround brand brands that we've talked about, right, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.480 Old Spice, KFC, Pizza Hut kind of all all similar 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:26.800 and and you know, I've put Chili's in that same 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.120 in that same group in terms of a brand that 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.080 that had a had a heyday and and now maybe 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.520 you know, had lost some of that momentum. And so 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.120 when I'm looking at a brand, you know, I'm looking 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.120 for a brand that has great bones, something to work 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.760 with as as a marketer. And I felt, I felt 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.080 Chilis kind of checked the check that box and then 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.080 the other piece that you know, you can't really know 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.120 until you until you get here. But in talking to 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.760 the people going through the process before joining the culture 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.880 here at Brinker and at Chili seemed really unique. And 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.520 I've now you know, been having been here two years, 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.320 I can say it's you know, it's the best culture 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.959 I've worked in, and it is it is something special, 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.280 right like every other you know, seemingly every other person 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.720 that I work with here in a meeting, it's like, oh, 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:15.600 I've been here fifteen years, I've been your twenty years, 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.640 I've been your twenty five years. And you don't see 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.160 that very often. And you know, we've got three three 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.079 members of our of our leadership team and our c suite, 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.840 Our chief operating officer, chief people officer, and chief financial 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:31.280 officer all started as hourly team members working in restaurants 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:32.400 and are now. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:33.280 You know, running the company. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.120 And I don't know how many companies that's like even 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.200 possible at anymore these days. So those are those are 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.280 kind of the big things that that kind of drew me, 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.400 drew me in obviously, in addition to to Kevin being here. 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.040 Yeah, very cool. Yeah, it's interesting because I felt like 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.600 for a while, Chile's kind of lost its way. It 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.480 was kind of differentiated, and then it became very similar 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.160 to the to a lot of other casual dining brands. 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.360 A CFO that I used to work with, Larry Hyatt, 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:04.240 he was excellent. He worked for a Cracker Barrel and 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.520 this was you know, maybe ten years ago. He's you know, 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.680 he used to call them, TGI, Chillibees. You know, everybody's 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.600 got the same menu, serving the same things. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:13.520 All right. 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:16.320 You mentioned two years at Chile's. You know, the turnaround 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.000 has been impressive. I'd really like to dig into maybe 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.800 your first six months, you know, right Sizing the amount 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:26.440 of transactions on deal, simplifying the menu, and identifying sales 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.720 opportunities were all kind of points of emphasis on the 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.520 team's very first earnings call. How did you id and 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.640 prioritize the lowest hanging fruit? 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.480 Yeah, you know, when we came in, you know, you're 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:39.960 doing that. 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.439 Kind of you're assessing the landscape to see what's going 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:45.480 on in the business, and you know, a couple of 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.200 things we noticed right away. One the brand had not 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.520 been you know, from a marketer standpoint, the brand had 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.480 not been advertising for three plus years at that point. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.840 And you know, part of that was COVID and a 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.440 lot of brands you know, made that decision. But it 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:03.800 wasn't all that like that. That there had been some 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.120 intentional decisions to to move some of that investment that 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.120 was going into advertising and paid media into you know, 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:15.120 other other places. And so some of those places were 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.840 third party you know, third party delivery virtual brands which 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:24.280 were which were started during during COVID and then also 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:29.120 you know, the using our my Chile's rewards database. Uh, 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.840 there was a lot of discounting like being sent out 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.600 and so it was basically twice per week, so once 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.400 you know, on every Monday, and then that that offer 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.360 was kind of good Monday to Thursday, and then another 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.720 offer was sent on a Friday for the weekend and 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:45.320 it was going out to the entire you know, the 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.319 entire database. And so you start looking at that and 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.320 you know, you go from nationally advertising driving awareness to 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.520 not doing that anymore and talking to the same kind 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.360 of group of people and kind of starting to encourage 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:04.760 that discount deal mentality. It's it's kind of a recipe 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.000 for for the brand not being as relevant and top 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.760 of mind anymore. And so that was kind of where 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.559 we wanted to start. And so, you know, one of 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.240 the first things we did is really pull back on 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:17.280 a lot of that discounting that we were you know, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:21.800 sending out and take that money to reinvest into advertising 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.080 and putting Chilis back out there in a different way 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:29.440 and reminding people about Chili's and and the and the 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.800 value that we offer. And then you know, the other 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:34.760 piece was, you know, we have we had a great 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.600 a great construct here, a great everyday value construct and 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.400 the three for Me. There are some tweaks that we 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.680 needed to make to it. You know, I think in 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.480 some ways, you know, it was it was almost you know, 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.160 the three for Me, like there was almost too many 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:54.040 things in it, right, which made it too too easy 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.040 to get into that. And so we wanted that to 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:58.720 be you know, for the people that are looking for 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.880 that amazing every day value. You can find it very 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.960 easily every single day, but you know, you're gonna have 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:07.320 to make choices, right if you want that value. You know, 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:08.960 there's going to be a select menu that you can 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.200 choose from all all are going to be great options, 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:13.680 but we didn't want to put some of our core 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.280 favorites like a fajitas or things like that and into 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.280 that and those need to be signature items that you know, 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.960 you know, it's it's still a great value for us, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.480 but you can't find it on that three for Me menu. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.520 So we made some tweaks to you know, what was 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.200 what was available in three for Me. We have the 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.400 price tiers and uh, and then we start talking about 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.960 it right and and tell people about it so you know, 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.040 you can you can get out there. And so that 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.640 was really you know, when we were diagnosing what was 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.920 going on, those are some of the big, the big 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.319 ticket items that we felt like we needed to address 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.480 right away and get after the the other piece I 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:51.920 would I would say that that stood out to us 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.240 in that early in those first six months was just complexity, 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:00.520 the complexity of the menu, you know, in terms like 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:02.640 you said, I think a lot of casual dining chains 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:07.480 fall into this habit of or this trap of trying 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.400 to be everything to everybody. And so there's a balance there, right, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.800 you need a good variety so that you know everyone 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.360 can find something they like, but you also want to 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.319 do things in a way that you know you can 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.520 make the menu manageable and execute it consistently. And so 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:24.160 so there's a lot of low hanging fruit there in 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.400 terms of ways to simplify the menu but also just 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:32.480 simplify the job of our team members. And Kevin's really great. 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.440 He brought a culture of listening to the field to 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.800 Chili's and so he spent probably the first you know, 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.600 six months he was here on the road most of 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.760 the time just in restaurant, watching, observing, getting in there 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.960 himself and really talking to team members to see what 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.560 are the things that we could do here to support 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.720 them and make their jobs easier so they could deliver 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.320 great service to our guests. So a big focus on 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:00.800 simplification both in terms of procedures and menu. I'd say 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.600 it was the other big kind of low hanging fruit there. 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.960 Great And how long did it take for the operational 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.280 improvements to kind of take hold so that you felt 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.240 like you could really be comfortable ramping up the marketing? 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:14.760 You know, honestly, we were able to move fast. 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.960 And I'll tell you that's one that's one nice thing, 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.760 you know, for us, at least for you know, some 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.000 of us that have come from other from other concepts, 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.960 you know, with with Chile's being primarily company owned, we've 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.120 been we've been able to make some pretty fast, fast 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.720 moves and and a lot of that's a testament to 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.800 Doug Cummings and he's our chief operating officer and the 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.920 work that are our vice presidents of operations across the country. 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.400 Do you know, we just started get after it and 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.320 like you know, we're we just started making making changes 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:44.160 implementing it. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:45.320 You know, we we. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.280 Were some of the things we you know, we decided 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.360 not to test and just roll, and you know, we 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.120 don't get everything right, but but our hit rate's pretty good. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:57.000 And so we started to see improvements pretty quickly, at 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.000 least feedback wise from you know, from team members and 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.960 terms of the impact I was having. And now i'd say, 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:08.320 you know, so we we probably we probably started advertising. 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.600 Maybe let's think about this, maybe like nine months in, 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.520 like six six, six to nine months in we started, 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:19.880 we started advertising after I joined, and at that point, 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.600 we were already starting to see the the the positive 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.400 feedback from our team members internally. And now what's great 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.720 is we're seeing that really translate into the metrics, into 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.240 into actual metrics that we're seeing from our guests, so 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.400 that they're they're experiencing a you know, a better, better atmosphere, 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.320 a better service at Chili's. And we're seeing that, you know, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.720 in our internal metrics as well as you know, things 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.120 like Google ratings and another ways to measure the experience. 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.480 All right, So we're renovating the core four. So for 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.400 my fellow Yankee fans, it's not Jeter Mo, Georgie and 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:56.119 Pettit right, But it's burgers, chicken crispers, Marks and Figita's 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.680 for Chili's. You know, that was an early initiative. It's 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.600 wrap up this year with Fajidas. Can you share a 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:03.880 little bit about what's to come? 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.080 Yeah, you know, I think it goes back to that 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.960 point on the menu, right, like you know, well, well, 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.359 we always need to offer a wide variety of things 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.960 to appeal to the masses. We also felt it was 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:17.720 important to have a strong point of view on the 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.080 things that that Chili's really stands for and the and 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.600 that core for really is it. And and so we've 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.600 been you know, on a on a steady, steady pace here. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.240 We've got a great innovation team and culinary team that's 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.760 been working on this, and so chicken Crispers were really 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.000 the first piece of that that's been you know in 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.879 market for over a year now and been doing great, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.920 great for our business and really making us more relevant 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.760 in a category that you know, is continuing to grow 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:50.000 every single year. We then have been tackling Margarita's, which 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.280 has been really fun for me. The alcohol space is 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.879 a news space for me coming to Chili's and so 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.320 you know, being being a destination for Margarita's. It's a 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.840 great time to be that tequila has never been more popular. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.560 I've learned a ton since, uh, since joining here in 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.359 the last couple of years, and so we're really you know, 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.160 we we talk about this Barbell strategy. 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:11.400 Right. 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:13.920 You can come in and get a six dollars margria 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.120 the month, every day of the year at Chile's, which 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.280 has uh, you know, great flavors, great spirits in it 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.600 and and is obviously a great value. But we've also 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:25.719 innovated on the top end, which I'm really proud of. 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:27.840 And so we've got a whole top shelf lineup that 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:33.480 includes Cosamigos, Patron and we're gonna be We're going to 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.360 be bringing on Don Julio here and uh basically next 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:40.199 week that's going to be on our menus. So so 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.680 I think, you know, being able to to innovate on 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.160 both the value side of that and the premium site 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.240 has been great. Burgers, the big smasher uh has been 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.040 a big, a big success for us and a big 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:56.159 driver of our success recently. And now we're hitting fajitas 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.199 and and I'll tell you that's the most complex of 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.760 the core four for a lot of reasons. It's just 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.800 there's there's more components to it, obviously, but there's there's more, 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.680 there's more parts of that experience. You know, there's the 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.879 the little the literal theater of it all. And you know, 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.200 so we've been looking at every piece of of the 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:17.520 fajita experience. And so whether it's the proteins that are 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.040 coming with the fijidas, the you know, the onions and 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.160 the peppers that come on the skillets. We've upgraded our tortillas, 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:29.320 We're looking at dippable fijidas as well as you know, 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:33.280 other other things that that that can make that experience great. 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.440 And so those are all in progress and so we're 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.199 excited to bring those out later, you know, later in 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.879 our fiscal year here, which would be the last of 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:44.520 the core four. Now it doesn't mean we're done. There's 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.280 tons of things outside of the core four that we're 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:50.280 going to be looking at, whether it's desserts, appetizers, things 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.000 of that nature. And then you know, we're going to 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.280 continue to look at those core four categories and you know, 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:56.440 what's the next thing on crispers, what's the next thing 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.520 on burgers. So we've really you know we didn't really 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.200