Kevin Hochman, President & CEO of Brinker International, joins inSpired to share how he led one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the restaurant industry. Since joining Brinker in 2022, he has grown Chili’s sales 71% without opening a single new restaurant. Along the way he brought a brand more than 50 years old to a new generation, with Gen Z now a quarter of its guests.

In this episode:

• Why Hochman stopped debating the right thing and focused on how to get it done, a lesson from Procter & Gamble and KFC

• How the Triple Dipper went viral, and why Chili’s kept those new guests when most viral brands lose them

• Better Than Fast Food: the Big Smasher, Big QP, Big Crispy, and the $10.99 meal

• Owning burgers, chicken, Tex Mex, and margaritas, and how Chili’s became the top margarita seller in the world

• Why Chili’s added 30,000 team members while competitors cut labor with automation

• The $600,000 pickle, and how cutting 29% of the menu expanded margins

• What the North of Six restaurants teach about staffing, throughput, and great general managers

• Why the strong keep getting stronger as the economy softens
  

  
  “We’re laser focused on what matters, and anything that doesn’t matter is our enemy.”

  “Get a superior product, market it like crazy, and you’re going to win in the long term.”

  Chapters
  0:00 Cold open
  1:57 What Kevin inherited at Chili’s
  5:16 Lessons from P&G and KFC
  9:57 How Chili’s won Gen Z
  24:36 Majoring in major segments
  43:05 Better than fast food
  49:18 Holding the $10.99 line
  57:34 The North of Six playbook
  1:11:34 Built to win in any economy
  1:22:13 What inspires Kevin

  Read the full transcript: Download the PDF

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