Baby’s Back

Anyone with access to a television over the last several years has likely found, at some point or another, an undeniably catchy jingle unconsciously running through their head. You know the one I’m talking about, “I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back ribs...” repeatedly rapped in low-baritone a-cappella doo-wop fashion as crystal tenors chime in at regular intervals with suggestions of “Chili’s ... baby back ribs ... Chili’s ... barbecue sauce...”

Advertisements featuring the jingle stopped airing in 2006, but now the popular commercial is back, slightly tweaked for a new audience—along with a new approach to the menu item at the heart of the song: the signature baby back ribs at Chili’s Grill & Bar, headquartered in Dallas.

Photo: Chili's Grill & Bar

In 1975, Chili’s founder Larry Levine opened his first restaurant, which began with a focus on gourmet burgers and soon expanded to include a wide range of American food with a Southwestern flair, in Dallas. By the 1980s, Chili’s was rapidly expanding operations, catching Norman E. Brinker’s eye, who bought the chain in 1983; Brinker International, Dallas, remains the parent company of Chili’s today. Now it boasts over 1,400 restaurants, stretching around the world, and has opened over 400 new units in the last five years.

Beginning in late 2009, Brinker initiated a wide range of improvements and updates to help keep the casual-dining chain competitive in an increasingly frenzied foodservice marketplace. This touches not only on resurfaced jingles and ramped-up marketing, but a major menu update—around three-quarters of the menu has been affected—and a $100 million kitchen re-engineering program to streamline service and food quality by 2013. Also on tap are plans to refurbish older units and continued international expansion.

But the first item on the table was the chain’s most-popular menu item, those baby back ribs.

SMOKE IN THE HOUSE

The signature defining factor of the new ribs at Chili’s is the switch from mesquite to 100% pecan wood—but still smoked every day in the back of the house of each restaurant. “We changed the wood to pecan wood, because it provides a smooth, less-harsh smoke flavor, and delivers a nuttier, sweeter flavor versus mesquite wood chips,” says Cammie Spillyards, director of food and beverage innovation, Chili’s. “We also lowered the temperature and lengthened the smoke time on ribs.” In fact, the time the ribs spend in the smoker has doubled, producing a more-tender rib.

Chili’s also smokes chicken each day in the back of the house. It goes into several new menu items, including the Chicken and Green Chile Soup, Santa Fe Chicken Wrap and Loaded Nachos, as well as the Mini Smoked Chicken Tacos.