It’s a battle for restaurants to become top of mind with consumers, so generating cultural relevance is imperative, Chili’s Chief Marketing Officer George Felix tells Bloomberg Intelligence. In this episode of the Choppin’ It Up podcast, Felix sits down with BI’s senior restaurant and foodservice analyst Michael Halen to discuss how ad campaigns with Brian McKnight, Boyz II Men and Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey from The Office, as well as investments in TikTok and influencer marketing, are driving Chili’s same-store sales and traffic gains. He also comments on operational improvements, fajita enhancements, Ziosk tablets and the loyalty program revamp.

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Restaurants can’t just raise prices, they need to use data to make real-time decisions to cut waste and excess costs, says Craftable CEO and co-founder Samuel Zats. In this episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s Choppin’ It Up podcast, Zats sits down with BI’s senior restaurant and foodservice analyst Michael Halen to discuss how artificial intelligence can help project sales, reduce costs and help inform labor and purchasing decisions. He also comments on digital sales, commodity inflation and what types of functions are best solved by AI.

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More and more ranchers are transitioning to regenerative practices, Hibar Hospitality CEO Jeff Chandler tells Bloomberg Intelligence, and he is hoping 100% of the beef Hopdoddy sells will be raised this way in the next couple of years. In this episode of the Choppin’ It Up podcast, Chandler sits down with BI’s senior restaurant and foodservice analyst Michael Halen to discuss why the decision to source the burger chain’s ingredients from regenerative farms and ranches was a no-brainer. He also talks about loyalty programs, the growing popularity of chicken and the company’s unique approach to dealing with general manager turnover and burnout.

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