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Chili's parent Brinker closes sports bar locations ahead of football season
The company attributed Chili's recent traffic and sales momentum to everyday value and improvements to food service, atmosphere, and the team member experience.
Chili's parent Brinker is closing locations for its sports bar concept ahead of the football season, underscoring continued pressure on casual dining chains that must balance value with customer experience, according to Yahoo Finance.
Restaurant Dive previously described Chili's as a same-store sales leader in 2025, with its most recent-quarter success driven primarily by traffic growth, even as many brands saw stagnant or reversing traffic. The article also notes that other chains, including Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday, and Applebee's, have shrunk.
It points to setbacks across the category, including On The Border filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and only a handful of franchised locations remaining, while Bahama Breeze was shut down by Darden, its parent company. Buffalo Wild Wings has also been closing restaurants, even as it opens some new locations.
Yahoo Finance says Chili's value strategy has been a key differentiator, citing remarks by Brinker CEO Kevin Hochman from the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. Hochman said the brand is focusing resources on long-term sustainable growth through improvements to food service and atmosphere and the team member experience, and positioning Chili's to be more relevant and distinctive, alongside everyday value that supports a traffic and sales flywheel. The article adds that food and labor costs have increased 35% over the last five years, and average menu prices rose 31% from February 2020 to April 2025, citing the National Restaurant Association.