Chili's is overhauling operations to cut costs. They're cooking burgers on both sides at once (65% faster), shrinking the menu by 21 items, and ditching fry baskets to save $430,000 yearly. The changes add up to $6.5 billion in annual savings.
Chili's is on a mission to become the most efficient restaurant ever. Well, here's how. We've all been to a super slow restaurant and that experience sucks. You know, like Olive Garden. You arrive early and you're already starving, but there's a wait list and it takes 45 minutes just to get seated. Then it's 20 minutes for the waiter to show up. And by the time you get your food, you've gone from hungry to hangry and your whole night is wrecked. You know where that won't happen? Chili's. Take a simple hamburger. Every other restaurant has the same process. Smashing, flipping, and waiting, it takes 5 minutes plus. Not at Chili's. Cooking the burger on both sides at once cuts 65% of the time off. And that's not all they're doing. Take their menu— they've dropped 21 items to reduce prep time. And they find even more savings in pickle jars. They shrunk the containers so they're easier to portion, saving them $500,000 per year. Plus, they save themselves $430,000 and 40 million dishes a year just by not serving their fries in baskets anymore. Chili's is saving $6.5 billion a year, and other restaurants are starting to copy their playbook.
