After taking a career detour leading marketing for Tinder, George Felix is making the most of his time back in the restaurant industry. He is about to finish his first year at Chili’s Grill & Bar—which he joined as chief marketing officer in July 2022. Calling on lessons learned at previous stints at Yum Brands-owned KFC and Pizza Hut, Felix has pushed to carve a place in pop culture for Chili’s, while reviving its national TV ad strategy. He's also putting a new emphasis on social media. And Felix has been reunited with Kevin Hochman, CEO of Chili’s parent Brinker International, who he worked with while both were at Yum and prior to that at Procter & Gamble, where they collaborated on Old Spice.

Chili's halted national TV advertising in early 2020 as the pandemic began, briefly returning with a small multi-market test of ads in July 2021, before coming back to national TV in March of this year, according to ad-tracking service iSpot. The brand is looking to get in front of more eyeballs to drive awareness around its updated food options and, of course, margaritas.

“We went back on air with a big ad campaign this March, the first time we had done it on that national scale, and we saw a return to our dining rooms, which was great,” Felix said.

Chili's has seen positive same-store sales in the first three quarters of its current fiscal year—3.8% in the first quarter, 8% in the second quarter and 9.6% in its third quarter, which ended in March.

The brand’s latest campaign, called “It All Starts with a Marg,” features “The Office” actors Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey gabbing over the restaurant's signature margarita options. It comes from Wieden+Kennedy Portland; Hochman and Felix have both worked with the agency at previous jobs.

Chili’s claims to have sold more than 22 million margaritas last year, and has started upgrading its tequila options at its bars, including using George Clooney-backed Casamigos and  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Teremana. 

Ad Age recently caught up with Felix to learn how Chili’s is attracting customers by focusing onits core menu items, including margs, and investing more in social media and premium TV ad slots. He also shared how Chili’s is resonating with Gen Z and millennials and why it’s keeping its project-based agency approach.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

What lessons did you learn at Yum Brands that you have brought to Chili’s?

There are some similarities from being back in the restaurant space, but there is still a lot to learn because casual dining is a little different from fast food. But with either, you have to be a relevant brand in culture, and we want to be a brand that is in the headlines and back in those cultural conversations. You can look back at our famous baby back ribs jingle, or our spot with NSYNC, or our cameo in Austin Powers. 

We’re trying to do that now in a different landscape. So we have to focus on being relevant in the food we are serving and what guests want to eat. We have what we call our “core four” at Chili’s of burgers, chicken crispers, fajitas, and margaritas, so we are playing in all the fastest-growing segments in American cuisine. 

How does that impact your marketing mix?

We have not advertised nationally for several years and now we’re at a point where we won’t be always on TV, but you’ll see more ad spikes throughout the year in high-impact slots like premium cable or live sports and we’ll supplement that with streaming and social media.

We have a strong focus on social media. Twitter has been a bright spot for us and we have a great brand voice that makes sense for Chili’s. I think we have been trending on Twitter six times since September of last year. We had a fun interaction with Nikki Minaj fans and bringing Barbs in for margs. We’re also proud of TikTok. We had a fun activation with a bride who recently got married and had Chili’s cater her wedding. We made a response video that started making the rounds and we had three more couples get engaged at a Chili’s, so we are covering their wedding catering. We have to be in places where people are spending their time and that is social.

How do you speak to your wide range of customers, and Gen Z in particular?

I think guests are reacting to a few things. One is value. Right now, you can’t read a headline without the word recession or other macroeconomic concerns. And when you look at drive-thru prices, they are pretty staggering. So for us to offer sit-down service and the Three for Me, which is a bottomless drink, chips and salsa, and a burger for $10.99 is pretty unbeatable.

In food, and outside of food, there is also a trend towards nostalgia or “newstalgia.” I’m not sure if it was the pandemic, but people seem to be craving the familiar, and if brands can tap into that in a way that is relevant and have fun with it, you're seeing them win.

On Gen Z, like any brand, the lifeblood is bringing in younger consumers, and we want Chili’s to be on the radar for Gen Z, but we also know that millennial families will be important. We need to put Chili’s in front of them in a way that resonates, which is why a lot of our social media efforts and partnerships are critical. We need to keep a broad range of guests in mind, but you get in trouble trying to be all things to all people, so we balance where and how we show up. 

Chili’s does not have an AOR, and has instead opted for a project-based approach. Why?

We are just getting back to being a big player in the national advertising space, so as we build that presence, we see some advantages being project-based. As they come up, we can be nimble and pick partners for particular projects.

We recently worked with Mischief, who did our Brian McKnight ads and wedding proposal work. Jon Marshall and Daughters were a great team on some of our Three for Me ads from February. And Wieden+Kennedy is behind our new “It all starts with a marg” campaign. This is Wieden+Kennedy’s first work for Chili’s. I’ve worked with them twice in my career, first with Old Spice and then again with KFC. We actually recently hired our VP of marketing, Jesse Johnson, who is a 15-year Wieden+Kennedy vet who worked on KFC and is now leading our ad strategy.

What trends are you watching?

One trend we are keeping an eye on is peoples’ behaviors in terms of dining in versus off-premise and staying on top of what they are looking for in terms of when they go out to eat. What do they want to have in that dining experience? And what do we need to offer for off-premise guests? Are the menus the same in terms of dine-in versus to-go? How is the packaging that our delivery or to-go orders holding up?

Another trend is alcohol consumption and what cocktails and spirits are trending. I think our bar has been under-leveraged in the last few years, so we’ve been innovating there. Tequila is one of the fastest-growing spirits in the U.S., so we brought in Casamigos Tequila. We want to signal that we are a leader in margs and tequila.

What is your favorite menu item and drink?

I’ve got to go with the new chicken crispers and I recommend them with the buffalo ranch sauce. The white cheddar mac and cheese puts it over the top. And for a drink, I would say the Casamigos Rita.