FINANCE
THE CASUAL-DINING COMEBACK STARTS AT THE TOP Sit-down restaurant chains showed signs of life last year. But much of the growth came from just a few brands, primarily Chili’s.
BY JOE GUSZKOWSKI
F rom a bird’s-eye view, the casual- dining segment had a nice year in 2025. Total sales among Technomic’s Top 500 casual-dining chains rose 2.9%, to $67.7 billion. The growth was roughly in line with inflation, but still, it was a marked improvement over 2024, when sales rose just 1.5%. And it came amid a period of extended economic uncertainty and consumer unease. It was good enough to give rise to some murmurs: Is casual dining back? Well, yes and no. A closer look at the numbers shows that the bulk of casual-dining’s growth last year came from just a few very large chains, with one red-hot brand in particular carrying most of the load. In terms of total dollars, Top 500 casual- dining sales grew by about $1.9 billion in 2025. Almost all of that—$1.7 billion—came from Texas Roadhouse, Chili’s Grill and Bar and Olive Garden, the three largest casual- dining chains in the U.S. by sales. And most of that growth was from Chili’s, which added nearly $1 billion in total sales by itself in 2025, an increase of 21% year over year. So it was a year of winners and losers in casual dining. Choosy consumers rallied around some brands more than others. And Chili’s was definitely one of those brands.
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
The 1,200-unit chain had a tremendous year, continuing a turnaround that began to take shape in mid-2024. Its 31.6% year over year same-store sales growth in the first quarter stands as one of the best performances by a publicly traded restaurant chain in at least two decades. In the next three quarters, it posted same-store sales of 24%, 21.4% and 8.6%, which lapped a 31.4% increase the year prior. The hot streak has been driven by better operations, savvy marketing, improvements to core menu items and a big focus on value. The brand has also gotten some help from social media, where its Triple Dipper appetizer platter went viral in the spring of
2024 and hasn’t stopped selling since. All of that has helped bring new customers into Chili’s restaurants and keep them coming back. It was the ninth-fastest- growing casual-dining chain in the U.S. by sales last year, even though it didn’t add any locations. (In fact, it closed a few.) The Chili’s renaissance, as well as the consistent success of Texas Roadhouse and Olive Garden, has helped create a new playbook for casual dining: Focus on the basics of food and service and good things tend to follow. It’s not all that new or novel, really. But that philosophy got lost a bit during the pandemic, when many full-service chains
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS JULY 2026
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