• Nation's Restaurant News, Friday, August 13, 2010 8:34 AM

With two-year same-store sales down 17% in its fourth quarter, the 1,505-outlet Chili's Grill & Bar hopes to rebuild traffic with a $20 dinner-for-two promotion, Ron Ruggless reports.

Last year, Chili's twice offered a "three for $20" deal with a shared appetizer, two entrees and a shared dessert. With everyone trying to squeeze into his or her new jeans (see stories above), dessert is perhaps mercifully missing from this year's deal. Then again, there may be crasser reasons for its absence.

"The absence of dessert and improved distribution of entrée selections over multiple stations in the kitchen will alleviate the pressures felt on labor," says Wyman Roberts, president of Brinker's Chili's division. In other words, there should be a benefit both to customer's bottoms and the company's bottom line.

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