Chili’s is celebrating Nationwide Margarita Day this month with a brand new romcom Lifetime vacation film.
The casual-dining restaurant chain and cable community will debut a 15-minute TV quick movie, referred to as I’ll Be Home For National Margarita Day, first airing on Lifetime on February 19 and out there on Lifetime.com, YouTube, and social platforms.
Starring actors Maria Menounos and Taye Diggs, the brand new flick hits on all of the basic Lifetime tropes, together with a big-city-dwelling lady returning to her hometown to reconnect with an outdated flame, who occurs to be a bartender at Chili’s. The reunited lovers should work collectively to avoid wasting a small city’s Nationwide Margarita Day celebration from the villainous big-city developer.
“He’s like a foul man proper out of a Lifetime film,” says Diggs throughout one of many movie’s self-referential moments.
“I believe there are parallels between why individuals look to Lifetime and the good content material they create, in addition to why individuals search for an evening out at a spot like Chili’s,” says Chili’s chief advertising officer George Felix in an interview with Quick Firm. “It’s a dependable supply of consolation.”
The mission additionally presents an appetizing advertising alternative for Chili’s, which offered 25 million margaritas final 12 months, greater than every other restaurant chain within the U.S. Chili’s labored with inventive company Mischief on the movie, which is a core pillar of the restaurant chain’s largest-ever advertising marketing campaign for Nationwide Margarita Day, a “vacation” that’s celebrated on February 22.
‘We want excuses to chortle’
Chili’s can be providing a number of margarita promos, together with a one-day $5 margarita particular referred to as the “Tequila Trifecta,” which mixes el Jimador Silver, 1800 Reposado, and Jose Cuervo Gold.
“When individuals are fascinated with margaritas and a spot to exit, Chili’s is basically the primary alternative,” says Felix.
Menounos, who performs Liz, is already well-known to the Lifetime viewers having beforehand appeared within the community’s movies together with Christmas at Plumhill Manor and The Vacation Courting Information. The actress says she is so charmed by the style that she cofounded a holiday movie production company in 2024 along with her husband, author and movie producer Keven Undergaro, referred to as We Coronary heart Holidays.
“Life has gotten so laborious and so difficult, we’d like excuses to chortle, and smile, and have enjoyable, and have margaritas,” says Menounos.
Menounos has additionally been a loyal fan of Chili’s for effectively over twenty years and even employed a former Chili’s waiter to work at her firm. Menounos says she tends to want appetizers together with the chips and salsa, nachos, and the fried mozzarella.
Past her love of vacation flicks, Menounos says she was lured to the mission to work with a pal, Diggs, who performs Sam within the movie and likewise beforehand starred in Lifetime’s Terry McMillian Presents: Endlessly. Diggs says he’s a newer convert to the Chili’s delicacies.
“All of us knew these characters, however on the similar time, it’s a bit of bit tongue in cheek, as a result of we’re speaking about Chili’s and mozzarella sticks and margaritas,” says Diggs.
A bar and grill on a roll
The chain has develop into a star performer for restaurant operator Brinker, which additionally owns the Italian-themed Maggiano’s. Comparable restaurant gross sales, which tracks the efficiency at places which were open for greater than 18 months, have increased steadily over the previous a number of quarters.
For the latest fiscal second quarter, comparable restaurant gross sales jumped 31% at Chili’s, progress that astonished Wall Street analysts, who’ve praised the chain’s comeback as one of many strongest ever within the restaurant business.
Felix says the chain has benefited from reinvesting in nationwide TV promoting after a protracted pause in the course of the pandemic, in addition to a streamlined menu with 25% fewer gadgets than two years in the past. The core focus is now on 5 classes: burgers, rooster crispers, fajitas, margaritas, and the triple dipper.
The triple dipper, which permits diners to pick from a spread of three totally different appetizers, has been a specific fashionable dish. Final spring, Chili’s started to note some social media chatter, particularly on TikTok, that steadily featured the mixture of sliders, honey chipotle rooster crispers, and fried mozzarella.
TikTok customers have been significantly drawn to performing what’s often known as the “cheese pull” as they chunk into the fried mozzarella.
“This merchandise actually lends itself to the best way that the TikTok meals world works,” says Felix. Chili’s cultivated curiosity within the dish by partnering with social media influencers. The triple dipper has amassed over 200 million views on TikTok in simply the previous six months.
The Lifetime movie presents one more alternative for Chili’s to lean into popular culture. Whereas the community’s viewers tends to skew extra feminine, Chili’s says the model’s total technique is pretty gender balanced. Latest partnerships embody launching the espresso martini with the feminine forged members of Bravo’s TV present Vanderpump Guidelines, however different current activations with NASCAR and the comedy group Dude Excellent lean extra male.
“The truth that Chili’s is a model that actually appeals to a large demographic provides us, as entrepreneurs, a variety of companions that we are able to play with,” says Felix. “Lifetime hits one in every of our large audiences in a giant approach.”
