Duane Beckett
Chili’s is taking direct aim at fast food value meals with its $10.99 3 For Me offer, now built around the new Big Crispy and Spicy Big Crispy chicken sandwiches.
The meal includes an entrée, fries, bottomless chips and salsa, and an unlimited fountain drink, with the brand framing it as a better deal for customers who are paying close attention to price.
Fast Company reported that Chili’s is pushing this launch straight into the chicken sandwich fight, saying its sandwiches are larger than McDonald’s and come with a full meal for less money. That gives the campaign a simple message, bigger food, fuller plate, lower total.
Clearly, Chili’s is leaning into frustration over shrinkflation, the feeling that prices stay high while portions quietly get smaller.
What are diners really buying?
For one example, Chili’s says the average Big Crispy filet was more than 80% bigger than the average McCrispy breaded filet in a local study.
According to Chili’s, that size claim sits at the center of the launch, with the Big Crispy and Spicy Big Crispy positioned as the headline items on the $10.99 meal.
George Felix, the company’s chief marketing officer, said the brand had already used burgers on the 3 For Me menu to expose what he called fast food shrinkflation, and now it is shifting that fight to chicken sandwiches.
PR Newswire reported that Felix described the move as a shakeup for a category that has needed one for a while.
Chili’s is also staging a one-day Big Crispy Food Court pop-up in New York on April 16, where guests act like jurors, hear the “evidence,” and share a verdict through Court TV. A little flashy, but also very easy to promote if results are massively favorable.
The bigger bet
The rollout goes beyond just two sandwiches, Chili’s is pushing a wider Big Crispy lineup, which also includes Original, Nashville Hot, Honey-Chipotle, Buffalo, and Deluxe versions, which suggests this is not just a one-shot stunt tied to a press cycle.
The pitch is pretty simple, get more food for your money and Chili’s is putting fast food on trial at a moment when most customers are ready to hear the case.