Brinker plans to complete an additional eight to 10 Chili’s remodels during the current fiscal year, CFO Mike Ware said during the company’s fiscal Q2 2026 earnings call. It has already completed four remodels and will use lessons from those stores to inform its long-term remodel and new unit strategies.
During fiscal 2027, the chain expects to complete 60 to 80 reimage projects and then to fully roll out remodels and new unit growth plans during fiscal 2028, Ware said.
Brinker is prioritizing 200 Chili’s restaurants for remodels out of 1,200 total units systemwide, as they haven’t been touched in several decades. It also expects to start growing units significantly in fiscal 2028.
Chili’s, which reported its 19th consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales, could benefit from additional traffic and sales lifts that come from reimagined restaurants. Burger King’s remodels drove sales increases in the mid-teens in 2024, for example.
While Brinker CEO and President Kevin Hochman said it’s too early to “declare victory on sales lifts,” the results of its initial four remodels are strong, adding that managers often say it feels like a fully new restaurant.
Chili’s started with four remodels to gain a better understanding of the level of investment required, and to learn operational lessons to ensure that mistakes made in the initial remodels aren’t replicated going forward, Hochman said.
Each of the four remodels have different elements in them. Hochman said the unit that was the lowest cost actually is the one people like the best. While others that cost a bit more have felt too busy in-restaurant.
“We're learning … less is more in some of the interior units,” he said. “We probably don’t need all the bells and whistles.”
For example, some of the restaurants had an oversized margarita shaker as decoration that was taken from old Chili’s, but that just felt like clutter and didn’t really add to the remodel, he said.
The chain also learned that tile work in the bar isn’t needed and adds an unnecessary expense. Instead, it’s just focusing on tiles on tabletops and the exterior sides of the bar, but not on the floor, Hochman said.
Tabletops will have tiles, but will be designed to be easier to clean. The old tile tables may have looked nice, but the grout in between the tiles was hard to clean, he added. Instead, the chain will create a printed tile table that will look three dimensional and have an acrylic top — though the specifics have not been finalized.
“That's an example where we're just going to spend a little bit more time getting the right tabletop on that,” Hochman said. “It's both operationally, how do we make sure it is sound, and then two, what [are] the right investments.”
Brinker also expects to start opening new Chili’s units in about two years given its 18- to 24-month development cycle. With the team now focused on new units, development will likely ramp up significantly in fiscal 2028, Ware said.
“We do know that we can build more Chili's, and we're really excited about it, especially with the change in the business,” Ware said. “The areas of opportunities have opened up for us because our business is so much stronger on where we can build in different areas, different locations. We've learned a ton.”
