Chili's Is Buying Fans Plane Tickets to Reach Its New Sea-Tac Airport Location

Here's a first for the casual dining playbook: a restaurant chain so confident in its comeback that it will literally buy you a plane ticket to eat there. That's exactly what Chili's® Grill & Bar is doing to celebrate its return to Seattle—and the location is one you can only reach with a boarding pass.

After a decade away, Chili's is back in the Seattle area with a new restaurant inside Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's newly expanded Concourse C. And to mark the moment, the brand is turning a logistical quirk—you need to clear TSA to get in—into a full-blown marketing stunt.

The Comeback: Seattle Is "Chili's-less" No More

For years, Seattle-area fans flooded Chili's social channels, inboxes, and comment sections with a single recurring question: when are you coming back? Thousands of requests later, the answer arrived. The new Sea-Tac location brings fan favorites like the Triple Dipper® and Presidente® Margaritas back to a market that had gone without for ten years.

To announce the return, Chili's leaned into local nostalgia with a social video inspired by an iconic Seattle-based '90s film, declaring the city "Chili's-less no more."

"Seattle-area guests have been hungry for Chili's for years, and after thousands of requests, we're back in the region," said George Felix, Brinker International chief marketing officer. "Whether guests are heading out, coming home, or passing through, we're ready to bring a little Chili's energy – in the form of Triple Dippers and Presidente margs – back to the Seattle area."

The Stunt: $500 Flight Credits to Grab a Pre-Boarding Marg

Because the new restaurant sits behind airport security, Chili's is removing the only barrier between fans and their Triple Dipper: the flight itself.

Through Friday, July 17 at 3 p.m. PT, fans who respond to prompts posted on Chili's Facebook, Instagram, and X have the chance to receive a $500 flight credit—enough to grab a pre-boarding marg and a Big QP in Concourse C before heading wherever they please. The new restaurant is operated by SSP America.

Why It Matters

For operators and foodservice executives, this is a case study in turning a constraint into content. Airport locations are notoriously high-traffic and captive-audience friendly, but they also lock out the general public. Chili's flipped that limitation into the hook of the entire campaign—the exclusivity became the story.

A few takeaways worth stealing for your own restaurant marketing playbook:

• Let demand write your press release. Chili's didn't manufacture hype—it surfaced years of unanswered "when are you coming back?" comments and made the reopening feel earned. Mining your own social channels for genuine demand signals is free market research.
• Non-traditional real estate is a growth lever. The airport concourse, operated by a specialist like SSP America, lets a brand re-enter a market without the cost and risk of a full free-standing build. For chains eyeing expansion, travel hubs, stadiums, and other captive venues deserve a hard look.
• Nostalgia plus locality travels far. A '90s-film nod tied specifically to Seattle gives the campaign a regional identity that generic national creative can't buy.

It's also a reminder that Chili's is operating from a position of momentum: the brand was named Ad Age's Brand of the Year in both 2025 and 2026, and its social-media-famous Triple Dipper continues to anchor menu buzz. The airport stunt is less a one-off gimmick than the latest chapter in a marketing engine that keeps converting cultural relevance into traffic.

The Bigger Picture

Chili's, the flagship brand of Dallas-based Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT), operates 1,600 restaurants across 29 countries and two territories with more than 70,000 team members. Founded in 1975, it's known for Big Mouth Burgers®, Crispy Chicken Crispers®, and hand-shaking more margaritas than any other restaurant brand in the United States. The chain has also raised more than $120 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital over two decades.

The Seattle re-entry shows how even a legacy casual dining player can generate outsized attention with a smart location choice and a campaign built around a single, shareable idea.

For more on how operators are rethinking beverage programs, menu buzz, and expansion strategy, explore our coverage of how hospitality operators are reengineering beverage programs for scale and our look at the top full-service restaurant franchises to consider.

Would you fly through Sea-Tac just for a Triple Dipper and a Presidente marg? Follow Chili's on chilis.com for official giveaway rules—and drop a comment to tell us whether this stunt would work for your brand.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.