Food Theory: Why is Everyone Going BACK to Chili's?

Thank you LMNT for sponsoring this video.

When is the last time you went to Chili's or Applebee's? Is it recent? Do you have a friend or family member who loves getting the Baby Back Ribs or Triple Dipper? Honestly, there's a big reason why EVERYONE is going back to restaurants like Chili's and Applebee's. And it's not what you'd expect.
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*Credits:*
Writers: Santi Massa, Eddie “NostalGamer” Robinson
Editors: Gerardo Andrés Mejía Torres, Warak, Shnaia "Naya" Llamera, Millie Ferris
Sound Designer: Yosi Berman
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#Chilis #Applebees #Restaurant #Restaurants #FastFood #FastCasual #BabyBackRibs #Theory #FoodTheory

[FoodTheory]

What is YOUR favorite casual dining chain?

[Labyrinth]

Simple, fast food is now more expensive than casual restaurants. Chilis has an outstanding deal like the 3 for me deal for $10.99. Unlimited chips and salsa, unlimited water, Fries and a big Burger.

[rezfeber]

Can concur. I work at Chili's as a line cook and it's been CRAZY recently. No middle ground ever, it's either slow or so breck neck fast it'll make your head spin

[Codexionyx]

Fun fact: Supposedly, Chili's was formed in large part thanks to Caroll Shelby, the legendary racecar driver and automotive designer. His son-in-law remembered fondly the times Shelby took him to Chili cook-offs and later founded a restaurant meant to emulate the feeling of eating at one.

[twistedlittlepuppy]

one major factor that wasn't mentioned is how many of these places allowed you to order ahead of time via apps and even offer to-go options. I can order something from Chilis or Cheesecake Factory and pick it up during lunch/on my way home from work just as easily as popping by a fast food joint and it's almost the same price when you factor in the leftovers.

[GreyJackJack]

11:51 Missed opportunity for "The King, " (BK) "The Queen, " (Dairy Queen) and "The Jack." (Jack in the Box, ) like playing cards.

[TheHuskyK]

The poetic irony of this is fantastic. The whole point of fast-food was that it was cheaper and faster food, older generations didn't care about quality, just what was cost-efficient. But now (as a fellow older Gen-Z), fast food costs just as much (or MORE in some cases) as casual diners. Why would you pass up the opportunity to spend time with friends/family with better quality food and atmosphere? And also, the pandemic made everyone miss dining out. Being trapped at home for a full year makes people yearn for going outside and doing stuff

[BrendanGeormer]

Some years back (2018 or 2019), my boss took me to lunch at Chilis for my birthday. He loved Chilis and would get it often for his lunch. I had eaten at Chilis maybe once ever before that, but I was pleasantly surprised by the food quality, and that their lunch special was a darn good deal. I still didn't go back for a while because I didn't have a good opportunity, but a year or two ago my parents wanted to treat me to dinner at Chilis because they had gone recently and enjoyed it. They played trivia on the little tablet at the table and wanted my help with it, because I enjoy that sort of thing. I really liked their nashville hot sauce. I've gone back a number of times since then, each time being good; except for one time. That one time was bizarre with how crowded the location was, where nearby parking lots had cars full too with people walking to Chilis. I think this was late last year or early this year. After a short wait to get a table, my girlfriend and I were served and I asked why it was so crowded, and the server told us that it blew up on Tiktok all of a sudden. I don't use Tiktok, so I had no idea, I just enjoyed Chilis and had been recommending it on my own because of my good experiences.

[kevincronk]

I was sad at first when Mat left, but tbh I love the dynamics between all the hosts. That's something Mat could never do, simply because he is 1 guy

[crankypop]

Wait. Casual dining has higher quality food for the same price, but fast food would have to raise their price to meet the quality? And they can't lower their prices? Common sense dictates that if casual diners have higher quality food for the same price as fast food, fast food is overcharging. It makes their claim of "we can't lower prices" an insult to consumers' intelligence. Why does this video avoid stating this very obvious realization in favor of saying, "fast food can't afford to lower their prices?"

[OwlgorhythmAU]

I imagine the growth of takeout and meal delivery plays a role as well. If you can get the convenience of ordering on an app and just pulling up to chilis to get your food or have it delivered to you, that greatly undermines the strategic advantage of “fast” food

[torazely]

Can confirm. I work at an Applebee's and we've been getting a lot busier recently than we have been for a while.

[harlow]

growing up, olive garden and chilli's were the go-to spots for "celebratory" dinners!! birthday? olive garden! choir concert? chilli's! so on and so forth. I've honestly never gotten sick of them and I doubt I ever will.

one gripe I have, chilli's I'm on my hands and knees begging BEGGING y'all to bring back the batter-type crust on the chicken crispers I'm on my hands and knees

[davidpomerantz]

When I was a kid, maybe about 9, my sister and I, for some reason, tried to eat as much pasta as we could at Olive Garden.

I think that was the most pasta I've eaten at once, and the biggest stomach pain too

[spiderbros]

I really appreciate that Amy and Santi have found a way to still interact with each other in their videos despite Santi's move to florida. Also apparently Amy grew up in a town in florida so Santi's moving to the same state is
hilarious.

[tmathis]

I always loved Chili's and with today prices they can be cheaper than fast food

[milesbank]

In my experience, a lot of the reason why these restaurants have been making this comeback was shown to me by a coworker.
Meal time + Waiting on food, takes around the same time for fast food vs sit down places. AND costs around the same
plus when you sit down at places, you often get better service, or for example garlic rolls at italian places

[CloudsAndDays]

I don't eat out often, but when I do, it's usually as something to do with family or friends. We want to sit down and eat a whole meal and chat during the wait time.
Fast food is mainly for when we don't have time to cook, and have run out of both leftovers and our stash of microwavable or air fry food, which doesn't happen often cause we usually buy food in bulk. We'll keep up to two weeks of food at a time. Between me, my parents and my older brother, spanning the generations, none of us want to eat fast food because it's too pricey for such a sad meal.

[DeannaNewton-dx]

The thing is, growing up my family and I would go to either McDonald's or a Buffet restaurant. We only get to go to a sit down restaurant for a celebration like birthdays or graduation since it's more "upscale" that your typical eating establishment. Also since my family and I live in New Jersey we mostly eat out at dinners as oppose to the chain restaurants growing up and right now. I CAN tell you that of all the chain restaurants I've been to, The Cheesecake Factory is the fanciest out of all of them and it awakened my love of cheesecake growing up.

[Nixoth]

Within the city i live, Chilis is the only restaurant that can actually cook a steak properly. I have tried literally all other places in town that serves steaks and if i ask for med rare it either comes out bruned or raw, nothing in between. Ive even gotten a horrifying steak from Applebees in town was green in the middle oof. That said i have tried everything on the chilis menu in my town and it is all amazing, but in other towns, the chilis have been lackluster.