Chili’s tied an offer to the Outlook outage while jabbing at its fast-food peers | Photo from X
The restaurant industry is filled with the most creative marketers on the planet and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on. Can you imagine any other industry jumping into cultural conversations as quickly and cheekily as restaurant brands?
Take Arby’s. In 2014, the chain noticed that singer Pharrell’s oversized hat resembled its logo, tweeting, “Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back?”
In 2017, someone on Twitter noticed that the locations of several Outback Steakhouse restaurants formed a pentagram. The casual-dining chain responded with an image of its Bloomin’ Onion and joked that it was plotting its signature dish instead.
The phrase “tatted like a Chipotle bag” gained traction during the 2019 Super Bowl halftime performance when fans on social media compared Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine’s tattoos to the artwork on Chipotle’s to-go bags. Chipotle has since run several “Tatted Like a Chipotle Bag” promotions, offering tattooed customers — whether donning permanent or temporary ink — a buy-one-get-one entrée free. The latest promotion in March set a single-day sales record for the brand.
Last year when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced their engagement, several brands from Krispy Kreme to Portillo’s and Carl’s Jr. celebrated the occasion with real-time promotions. The list goes on.
So, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that plenty of restaurant chains pounced on this week’s global Microsoft/Outlook outage that has impacted millions of users across 74 countries.
Wendy’s, known for its acerbic social media tone, used the outage to poke fun at rival McDonald’s and its frozen beef. Torchy’s Tacos eased guests’ fears by noting, “Outlook might be down, but our Margarita machines are still working.”
Crumbl played on its brand, suggesting that Outlook users “should have accepted those cookies.” Burger King recommended going out and getting a Whopper while the Outlook issue was being resolved. McDonald’s asked if “they’ve tried putting our emails in Sprite.”
Noodles & Company posted, “Sooo Microsoft is down. Leave your office. Buy some noodles. BE FREEEEEE.”
And then there’s Chili’s, which went beyond dragging Microsoft or rejoicing at the quiet of an idle inbox. The casual-dining chain once again took an opportunity to take a swing at its fast-food competitors — a marketing message that has helped drive its robust sales and traffic throughout the past three years.
Chili’s even tacked on an offer: “EMAILS ARE DOWN AND FAST FOOD PRICES ARE UP!! Keep ignoring your emails and quote this with #chilis3forme and tell us how much you paid for your last overpriced fast food ‘value meal’ and we’ll pick 500 people and give them a free 3 For Me on us!!”
In other words, Chili’s connected two timely conversations — the Microsoft outage and consumer frustration over fast-food prices — and used it to promote its own value proposition. This is more than just a funny reactive post; it’s product promotion, a competitive jab, and a consumer-engagement campaign rolled into one.
Moving at the speed of culture, as IHOP President Lawrence Kim once described, is no easy feat. But restaurant brands do it because it presents an opportunity to become part of a conversation consumers are already having. They’re speaking with them rather than at them and creating top-of-mind awareness organically, which is tough to do when things are particularly noisy. A clever post can travel well beyond a brand’s existing followers and generate a ton of impressions without a traditional media buy.
That said, risks exist; you have to know when the moment has passed and be aware that your brand may not seamlessly fit into a broader conversation.
But the risk can be worth it. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, restaurant brands aren’t just competing for stomachs or wallets. They’re competing for relevancy, and real-time marketing gives them an opportunity to earn attention, reinforce their positioning and, if they’re lucky, turn a joke into traffic.
Contact Alicia Kelso at alicia.kelso@informa.com
Follow her on TikTok: @aliciakelso
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