Chili’s Rejects AI Hype, Betting on Basics to Drive 500% Stock Growth

Chris Caldwell, the company’s chief information officer, arrived in February 2024 to find a chain hampered by neglected systems. Outdated tablets and unreliable Wi-Fi were actively hindering staff, creating bottlenecks in service. Rather than implementing speculative AI tools, Caldwell redirected his budget toward the unglamorous work of stabilizing the network. Over two years, the company overhauled connectivity at 1,200 locations, renegotiated its Comcast contract, and introduced cellular backups to ensure constant uptime.

This commitment to functionality extended to the hardware used on the floor. Caldwell replaced aging, battery-drained tablets with 23,000 new iPads, allowing staff to manage orders without interruption. He also provided store managers with dedicated laptops, separating back-office tasks from the public-facing ordering software. The shift in strategy has yielded 20 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth. Sara Senatore, a senior restaurant analyst at Bank of America, noted that the results—highlighted by a company revenue of $1.46 billion in the most recent quarter—demonstrate that fixing the basics often outpaces the appeal of industry trends.