Chili’s Surges in Success with New Menu Items and Taste Test Reveals the Best Burgers

In recent months, Chili’s has experienced a surge in success with the launch of their new Big Smasher burger and the success of their Triple Dipper. This prompted us to test out their other burgers to see if they live up to the hype. During a visit to the chain’s headquarters in April, executives shared that Chili’s was focusing on advertising campaigns and new menu items to improve brand awareness and attract more customers. This strategy seemed to be paying off, as same-store sales rose 3.5% in the third quarter according to CEO Kevin Hochman of Brinker International, Chili’s parent company.

Despite overall decreases in traffic, Chili’s outperformed competitors in the casual dining industry by over 7% in sales and nearly 4% in traffic during the third quarter. The successful quarter was attributed to a return to television advertising and the release of the new Big Smasher burger that mirrored McDonald’s Big Mac. Burgers are a significant area of potential growth for casual dining chains, with limited-service chains generating $110 billion in sales in 2023.

Chili’s is working to position itself as a value-focused burger chain, with a renewed emphasis on their “core four” menu items which include burgers, fajitas, Chicken Crispers, and margaritas. While we had already tried out their Big Smasher burger, we wanted to sample and rank the other burgers on Chili’s menu based on taste and value. We only tried the full-sized burgers as-is, including fries as a side. Business Insider organized this taste test in partnership with Chili’s Grill & Bar, though BI paid for the meal and had no influence on our rankings.

Here is our ranking of every Chili’s burger from least favorite to most favorite:

10. Bacon Cheeseburger – While this classic burger has plenty of flavor from its bacon and cheese additions, it lacked depth compared to some of its other options on our list.

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