Just a few years ago, Chili’s was a brand in trouble.
Now, it’s a verified turnaround success story.
“Chili’s delivered another strong quarter with industry-leading growth of +9%, rolling the industry-leading growth from last year for a 2-year comp sales growth of +43%,” said Brinker International CEO Kevin Hochman said in the company’s second-quarter earnings release.
“With 19 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth, Chili’s turnaround, led by guest experience improvements, is sustaining over the long-term.”
It was a comeback built on fixing the fundamentals and leaning into value and the industry has noticed.
“Analysts gushed over Chili’s results on an earnings call, offering congratulations to the company 11 times. One analyst said the company’s turnaround was ‘the best one of all time’ in the restaurant industry, and another said CEO Kevin Hochman was ‘going to write a great book on this some day,'” CNN reported.
But while Chili’s has been flying high, the company’s sister chain Maggiano’s has struggled, with its sales and footprint steadily shrinking.
Maggiano’s tries to make its own comeback
Hochman wants to bring the magic that turned Chili’s around to Maggiano’s Little Italy. His company kicked off the chain’s turnaround efforts, dubbed “Back to Maggiano’s” in March.
It’s built around value, much like Chili’s, but instead of $10.99 meals and $19.99 meals for two, the Italian chain is leaning into the family-style portions it’s best known for.
“While others shrink portions, Maggiano’s Little Italy is going bigger and serving up more of what guests love. The iconic Italian-American brand is going back to Maggiano’s — returning to the abundant portions, welcoming hospitality, and classic dishes that made the brand a favorite for decades,” the company shared in a press release.
Hochman spoke about Back to Maggiano’s during Brinker’s third-quarter earnings call.
“At Maggiano’s, we continue to execute the Back to Maggiano’s strategy, which is designed to improve our value proposition, optimize our service model and ensure our atmosphere is clean and well-maintained by making the investments needed to improve the business,” he said.
And while there’s a broad plan to update the look at many Chili’s locations, the chain plans a smaller investment in its Italian chain.
“At Maggiano’s, our main focus areas will continue to be guest-facing repairs and maintenance, supplemented by a smaller reimage program,” he added.
Maggiano’s has been struggling
Maggiano’s has struggled to regain momentum in recent years, with Brinker citing traffic declines, negative comparable sales, and the impact of restaurant closures.
While it’s the early days of the turnaround effort, Hochman sees some positive signs.
“On the Maggiano’s business, we are continuing to make progress in its turnaround. When you adjust for Christmas Day falling in Q3 of this fiscal and the January weather, we did see sequential improvement in traffic and comp sales,” he said during the Q3 call.
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Sales, however, did fall, according to CFO Mike Ware.
“For Maggiano’s, the brand reported comp sales for the quarter of negative 4.6% with negative 10.4% traffic, partially offset by positive mix of 0.6% and price of 5.2%. Weather and a holiday shift negatively impacted sales and traffic at Maggiano’s by approximately 2.1% during the quarter,” he added.
That followed a second quarter in which the Italian chain saw its comparable sales drop by 2.4%, Brinker’s Q2 earnings report revealed.
“The brand’s small size — 48 units — and emphasis on shareable group dining, particularly for families, make it more difficult to achieve the shocking traffic gains seen at Chili’s, which was able to leverage price competitiveness with QSR burgers into blockbuster national marketing plays,” according to Restaurant Dive.
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Maggiano’s has closed restaurants
The turnaround efforts come as Brinker has reduced Maggiano’s footprint, closing locations where leases expired or where the company chose not to continue operating.
The shutdowns have ended the chain’s presence in some key markets. These closures include:
- The Garden City, New York, restaurant is closing permanently. The location, Maggiano’s only Long Island restaurant, is shutting after its lease expires, with 57 employees affected under a New York WARN notice, according to Brinker’s third-quarter earnings release.
- Maggiano’s Little Italy in Beachwood, Ohio, is closing Sept. 27, 2026, after nearly 20 years in operation. The company said the decision was made after the restaurant’s lease expired and it chose not to renew, reported News 5 Cleveland.
- Maggiano’s Little Italy at Tysons Galleria in Virginia closed in September 2025 after nearly 30 years. The restaurant was not simply eliminated from the market; Brinker moved the concept to a new location at Tysons Corner Center, which opened in 2026, according to Fairfax County Local News.
- Maggiano’s closed its Woodland Hills, California, location in 2025, according to local reports and customer notices. The closure was tied to the location’s lease, reported Valley News Group.
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Maggiano’s is not Chili’s
Hochman talked during the Q3 earnings call about wanting to use Maggiano’s as proof of concept that his team could turn around a smaller brand. Brinker is not planning on buying a third concept until it can make that happen.
He acknowledged that what worked for one chain may not translate directly to the other.
“Just because we have the playbook on Chili’s doesn’t necessarily mean that the same leadership team can do the same thing on other brands. And I’d rather prove it on a pretty risk-free opportunity like Maggiano’s versus take the big swing for the first time on something a lot bigger that could… put undue risk on the business that we don’t really need to do right now,” he said.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks Hochman’s rescue of Chili’s suggests he can do the same for the company’s Italian chain.
“What saved Chili’s was brutally simple: Kevin Hochman stripped away the operational nonsense, brought back the core items people actually wanted, and went on an aggressive value offensive against overpriced fast food,” he shared with TheStreet.
It looks a little different at Maggiano’s, Miserandino noted, but the same core principles apply.
“People don’t go to Maggiano’s for fine dining. They go because they want massive portions of chicken parmesan, fast seating, and family-style comfort food. Once you stop over-complicating the experience it gets easier,” he added.
