Takeaways from Chili’s digital transformation initiative

Chili’s is making some big changes to their stores, and we’re not talking about menu items.

For the past two years, Chris Caldwell, CIO of Brinker International, which oversees the Chili’s brand, has been cooking up a digital transformation across the country. But instead of a flashy, AI-centric initiative, Caldwell has focused on fixing the IT basics that have burdened Chili’s team members, like outdated point of sales (POS) and kitchen display system (KDS).

“We’re chasing fundamental, foundational problems within our business that are going to improve the experience, improve food service or atmosphere in our restaurants,” Caldwell said. “That’s our guiding principle.”

There’s value in focusing on the fundamentals. According to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Business report, 57% of restaurant leaders said POS systems provided the greatest return on investment for their business; another 19% named KDS.

We spoke with Caldwell to discuss some of his takeaways and tips from Chili’s no-frills digital transformation efforts.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

What advice would you offer to companies that are looking to focus on the basics of digital transformation, but also want to focus on the latest and greatest AI initiatives?

I think it’s just a big discussion on prioritization. It’s just making sure that we’re always going to be focused on the things that are going to have the biggest impact on operations, and it’s not that we’re saying, “We won’t ever do AI.” I think it’s, “Does AI have a place in solving any of those core challenges?” And maybe it will, [Chili’s VP of Marketing Steve Kelly] and I, we’re working on a few examples where maybe it improves our ability to give accurate quote times to our guests when they’re ordering online.

There’s things like that that really still solve a foundational problem that we have in our business that’s going to have a really, really positive impact. So, that’s what we’re focusing on. We’re not chasing technology for the sake of technology. We’re not saying, “Hey, we have to use the latest AI.” We’re saying, “What are the biggest use cases in our business that are going to have the biggest positive impact?” and making tough choices.

What are some tips you would extend to companies to identify when it is time to retire legacy tech?

The big warning sign is when it’s getting in the way of serving guests or creating friction for your teams. You can replace tech very frequently, as fast as it’s moving, but I think our test on whether it makes sense or not is, is it creating friction? Is it getting in the way of their ability to serve guests? And if that’s the case, that’s when it’s time to refresh that technology.

Where should companies with a limited budget focus their digital transformation efforts first?

Where we focus first is we go back to talking to the people that use our products and technology on a day-to-day basis. And generally, if you listen, they can tell you where to focus first. It may take some research to get to the root cause of the pain points, but I feel like that’s why we started on the foundational components and listened to our restaurant team members and asked those pointed questions of, “What are your biggest friction points? What’s getting in the way of you being able to serve your guests?”

When I look back at my last two-and-a-half years with the brand, it was very driven on that type of feedback, and that’s exactly how we prioritized it.