Chain eating places are in every single place. How do they keep alive? : NPR

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Keren Carrión/NPR Inexpensive, acquainted and reassuring are the options that make American chain eating places a near-ubiquitous presence all through the nation; it's virtually as if they're baked into our roadside tradition.

There's one thing about them – they're acquainted, typically inexpensive, and cozy. Regardless of well-documented monetary struggles, a troublesome economic system and shifting weight-reduction plan developments, these eating places face up to time.

However additionally they face distinctive challenges.

This collection tries to discover why these locations have such sturdy endurance and the way they keep afloat at a time of speedy change.

For the needs of this venture, we're exploring these full-service, sit-down institutions like Pink Lobster, Denny's, and Chili's.

Drive by way of any American city or pull off any freeway throughout the nation and you may see them: the glowing neon indicators of chain eating places. Assume Chili's, Applebee's, Olive Backyard, Pink Lobster.

There's one thing about these locations: They're acquainted, almost ubiquitous and, in some way — regardless of rising meals costs — supply a full sit-down, restaurant service expertise at an inexpensive worth, in keeping with many readers who dine at these locations and who spoke to us for this venture.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5472x3648+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fee%2F78%2Fdf6033124e82a7e6f8d9e3add3c1%2Fgettyimages-1500666092.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5472x3648+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fee%2F78%2Fdf6033124e82a7e6f8d9e3add3c1%2Fgettyimages-1500666092.jpg" class="img" alt="A person walks into an Olive Garden restaurant in Chicago in 2023." loading="lazy"/> An Olive Backyard restaurant in Chicago. Scott Olson/Getty Photographs cover caption

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Scott Olson/Getty Photographs However additionally they stir one thing deep for a lot of Individuals. These eating places are private landmarks dotted with recollections of nights spent with mates earlier than a film, awkward first dates, or household birthday dinners.

They're additionally a spot the place you possibly can reliably get the very same rooster alfredo from Olive Backyard, regardless of in case you are consuming at a location in Ohio or Arizona.

"Individuals are obsessive about chain eating places, particularly if they've a favourite one which's simply this cherished piece of their private histories," says Adam Chandler, a journalist who has written about Individuals' love of meals chains.

And but there's one thing "dystopian" about the entire thing, says Chandler — in search of out a middle-of-the-road restaurant that appears the identical, tastes the identical, and feels the identical because it did 30 years in the past.

The sameness is the purpose, specialists within the restaurant trade say. A well-recognized meal can present a wanted jolt of nostalgia, and that's what retains these chains in enterprise — even a long time after they first opened.

"Consuming out is an emotional expertise. We really feel not simply the meals. We really feel the entire expertise," says Stephen Zagor, a restaurant marketing consultant and adjunct professor at Columbia Enterprise College.

"We love familiarity," he says. "And chain eating places become profitable as a result of we're snug. They're like outdated mates."

Zagor factors to the heated — and dear — debate that started when Cracker Barrel introduced it was altering its decor, menu and brand in an try to modernize the house. After public outcry that prolonged all the best way to the White Home, the corporate introduced it could maintain its authentic brand.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F96%2F5b9bac3d4e638e83b276336cd232%2Fgettyimages-2231353862.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F96%2F5b9bac3d4e638e83b276336cd232%2Fgettyimages-2231353862.jpg" class="img" alt="The short-lived updated Cracker Barrel logo is seen on a menu inside the restaurant in Homestead, Fla., on Aug. 21." loading="lazy"/> The short-lived up to date Cracker Barrel brand is seen on a menu contained in the restaurant in Homestead, Fla., in August. Joe Raedle/Getty Photographs cover caption

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Joe Raedle/Getty Photographs Whereas there's a fixed drive to stay related within the restaurant enterprise, you additionally run the danger of going through that sort of shopper whiplash that landed Cracker Barrel in the midst of a tradition battle.

"Folks need issues to be the identical," Chandler, the journalist, says. And going to a restaurant the place the decor and a lot of the menu are a decade outdated, individuals "really feel like they're experiencing the identical factor each single time they go, from once they're a child to once they're an grownup," he provides.

Leaning into nostalgia NPR's curiosity to discover chain eating places and the way these manufacturers have weathered a long time of change comes from our reporters' personal recollections of time spent bonding with family members round these neighborhood tables.

And eating places realize it and are investing in methods to tug on these strings of the previous and get clients — notably millennials getting into center age — by way of their doorways.

A part of this success has come from turning to social media, notably TikTok, to be able to use nostalgia to convey company within the door and meals developments like stretchy cheese (extra on that later within the collection).

"Nostalgia has at all times been an efficient lever to tug on the subject of messaging and connecting on a extremely emotional degree with the viewers," says Michael Lindquist, senior vp of social for the media firm, BarkleyOKRP. He works within the firm's social content material studio, which works with manufacturers like Pink Lobster, Marco's Pizza and others.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/9504x6336+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F07%2F71%2Fb382642b41538df3beb5101de1ad%2F20251106-largestapplebees-kc-3.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/9504x6336+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F07%2F71%2Fb382642b41538df3beb5101de1ad%2F20251106-largestapplebees-kc-3.jpg" class="img" alt="People dine at the Applebee's in Times Square." loading="lazy"/> Folks dine on the Applebee's in Instances Sq.. A well-recognized meal can present a wanted jolt of nostalgia, and that's what retains these chains in enterprise Keren Carrión/NPR cover caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR This will get clients "to suppose again to a time once they have been actually completely happy experiencing your model," he provides. "And I feel lots of people are reaching again for that proper now, which is possibly why it is hitting a bit completely different."

In 2023, Chili's introduced it was partnering with 90's band Boyz II Males to file a brand new model of the chain's ode to ribs: The "I Need My Child Again" jingle. Adverts enjoying that track hit streaming companies, on-line and social media.

And earlier this summer season, Saved By the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen was a part of a margarita of the month advert marketing campaign (for what else? Their Radical Rita) that leaned deep into 90s popular culture.

Chili's says in its announcement, "The attention-catching margarita takes '90s nostalgia to the max this Could with TV it lady Tiffani Thiessen elevating a glass (and a themed swizzle stick) to Chili's latest margarita."

Nostalgia can imply massive enterprise The complete-service restaurant trade has struggled, because of a number of circumstances — together with tariffs, altering shopper wishes and rising meals prices.

The Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation stories {that a} majority of meals operators say enterprise situations have "deteriorated" this 12 months, attributed partially to a steep drop within the variety of vacationers the nation is seeing because of a heated political local weather and financial considerations.

Regardless of this, there have been some brilliant spots, with Pink Lobster staging an tried comeback after submitting for chapter and shutting many shops, in keeping with a profile by the New York Instances (which additionally notes the seafood restaurant is betting on nostalgia to assist).

However Texas Roadhouse and Chili's Grill & Bar proceed to buck the final downward developments within the trade with continued sturdy gross sales and visitors, each corporations report in current monetary filings.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4742x3165+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F4f%2Fcf593500460ea630328e01fc294c%2Fap20157542194782.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4742x3165+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F4f%2Fcf593500460ea630328e01fc294c%2Fap20157542194782.jpg" class="img" alt="A "Now Hiring" sign is displayed outside a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Methuen, Mass., on June 5, 2020." loading="lazy"/> A Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Methuen, Mass., in June 2020. Texas Roadhouse and Chili's Grill & Bar proceed to buck the final downward developments within the trade. Elise Amendola/AP cover caption

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Elise Amendola/AP Texas Roadhouse reported $1.4 billion in complete gross sales within the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, a couple of 12.8% enhance in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months. Chili's mother or father firm, Brinker, reported firm gross sales hit $1.45 billion within the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, which is a rise of simply over 21% from the earlier 12 months.

Kevin Hochman, president & CEO of Brinker Worldwide (the mother or father firm of Chili's), mentioned of the continued progress throughout an earnings name: "With that sustained momentum together with a powerful pipeline of initiatives, we're assured in our skill to develop gross sales and visitors all through fiscal 2026. Chili's is formally again, child again!"

Chelsea Reid, an affiliate professor of psychology on the School of Charleston, says there's some analysis that reveals when meals are marketed as nostalgic, "people have a tendency to specific that they're extra interesting to them and that they'd be extra prone to buy and eat them."

Reid describes nostalgia as "a sentimental eager for a treasured second in your personal private previous." And researchers have discovered that meals and smells are particularly potent triggers for nostalgia.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/9179x6119+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F89%2F8c%2Fd84c50f54edc8e21a9d42eeb1e97%2F20251106-largestapplebees-kc-9.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/9179x6119+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F89%2F8c%2Fd84c50f54edc8e21a9d42eeb1e97%2F20251106-largestapplebees-kc-9.jpg" class="img" alt="Empty tables are seen at Applebee's in Times Square." loading="lazy"/> Empty tables are seen at Applebee's in Instances Sq.. Keren Carrión/NPR cover caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR "I take into consideration meals as notably highly effective as a result of we all know that nostalgia is continuously revolving round these momentous events … and meals are vital company at these occasions," Reid says.

Greater than that, she says, meals can act as a kind of "social surrogate." Even when our shut mates or household aren't current to take pleasure in a meal with us, the meals related to these individuals evoke the identical emotions and recollections.

"After we really feel nostalgia, we really feel that we now have a better sense of belonging," Reid says. And people emotions are there, even when we're fully alone.