Why Is Chili’s Catering Weddings?

When something goes viral - especially in the lightspeed world of TikTok - a brand usually has a very tight window to capitalise on it. So, when bride Madison Mulkey divided the internet by sharing her Chili’s-catered wedding, the casual dining chain knew time was against them. Partnering with creative agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address, they quickly released a ‘Chili’s Wedding Catering’ video and social images, and offered to officially cater the weddings of the first three customers to propose to their partners inside a Chili’s restaurant.

After a whirlwind turnaround during a holiday weekend, within 24 hours of the announcement, three proposals had been uploaded and tagged to the official Chili’s TikTok account. That’s three happy couples with one less thing to worry about on their special day!

To get an insight into how the brand and agency acted with such speed, and why the Chili’s brand holds a special place in so many American’s hearts - even if they didn’t get engaged in one of the restaurants - LBB’s Ben Conway spoke with Luz Bickert, director of digital advertising, and Jack Hailey, associate manager of social media at Chili’s, as well as the creative team from Mischief - art director, Kaitlin Kehoe, EVP and head of production, Will Dempster and creative, Patrick LaBelle.

LBB> When you saw the Chili’s wedding couple go viral, what was your initial reaction? What would be on your Chili’s wedding menu?

Luz and Jack (Chili’s)> When we saw the Chili’s wedding couple go viral, we were surprised but excited to know we were a part of someone’s most special day. We knew we wanted to celebrate Madison and immediately responded to her. But we also knew we wanted to figure out how to take it a step further – that’s where Mischief came in! We’ve partnered with Mischief @ NFA in the past and knew that they were the right partner to come up with a disruptive idea that was feasible within a short time frame. In total, we had about four business days to align, produce and go live!

Luz’s wedding menu pick: Southwest Eggrolls as hors d'oeuvres.

Jack’s wedding menu pick: Strictly Presidente Margs and Chicken Crispers on the way out. 

LBB> Kaitlin, when Mischief got the call from Chili’s, what was your initial reaction? And what were some immediate ideas you had that would capitalise on this viral moment?

Kaitlin> We were stoked to see Chili’s wanting to push on the creativity that’s already happening through their fanbase. Fans have such an interesting relation to brands and using their POV as a launch pad - especially with how fast content moves - is so important. We wanted to make something that felt at-its-core-Chili’s. For many couples, Chili’s is a very special spot for them - first dates, birthdays, casual after-work hangs, road trip destinations and big life events. A proposal at Chili’s feels like such a natural and authentic possibility for these couples.

LBB> The campaign involves some ‘Chili’s Wedding Catering’ mock-ups, a video announcement from a Chili’s ‘executive’ and, of course, the actual catering of six lucky guests’ weddings. Was this all produced in-house? How did you turn everything around in such a short space of time?

Will> The secret behind turning this thing around in such a short space of time is not at all sexy, but extremely simple: We collaborated with amazing clients who wanted to move at the speed of culture, and we worked with trusted partners who we knew could work at the same pace we do.

To expedite, we pulled talent options from previous casting sessions which we knew would fit the mould and had that approved in a matter of hours. We worked quickly with SAG to get signatory status within 24 hours, as our hope was to cast a union talent.

Production got briefed on the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend. This meant we had to cement everything within 24 hours before the end of Friday so we were ready to shoot at 8am on Tuesday (as Saturday, Sunday and Monday were holidays and no one was working). We worked in lockstep with Chili’s to secure shooting at their location in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles. We needed to be wrapped before the lunch rush, which gave us roughly three hours to film.

Being able to move at this speed just comes down to great partnerships and a full, collective creative vision from the beginning. Everyone was aligned and we knew what we wanted to achieve and how to bring it to life.

LBB> How did you react to the idea of actually catering three weddings for guests who get engaged in a Chili’s restaurant? Why does this work so well for Chili’s existing brand personality? 

Kaitlin> This is Mischief’s second piece of work with Chili’s. Our debut work launched in February - Chili’s first big marketing push post-pandemic, ‘The Brian McKnight 3 For Me Remix’. The Chili’s love is real. Fans love them. And Chili’s loves its fans. Giving couples the chance to win a fully-catered Chili’s wedding was a natural development of joy for the fanbase. 

Luz and Jack (Chili’s)> Catering three weddings is the easy part, three couples actually proposing felt like the true challenge. We were shocked and thrilled to get three proposals within 24 hours of us posting! We have a world-class operations team and know that although catering weddings isn’t in our everyday wheelhouse, we can execute. We have a variety of crave-able party platters ranging from Crispy Chicken Crispers to sizzling fajitas that make it easy to serve large groups and gatherings. 

LBB> The three proposals came in almost instantly - how did you feel seeing this campaign transform six people’s lives? When can we expect to see the wedding photos of Chili’s catering?

Patrick> A lot of ads - at best - get people to smile for like 0.2 seconds. So, putting something out that six people and hundreds of wedding guests are going to directly benefit from feels amazing. I hope they ball out on their honeymoons with the money they’re saving.

Luz and Jack (Chili’s)> We were thrilled and emotional seeing three couples have their special proposal within our restaurants! You can expect to see the first catered within the next few weeks as one of our winning couples is getting married on June 24th and we’ll share highlights shortly after! 

LBB> This ‘Chili’s wedding’ moment essentially went viral twice - once when it inspired the campaign, and again following the campaign -  what do you think it is about Chili’s marketing and perception that resonates with the public in this way? How has Chili’s cultivated this brand presence that is so welcome at such a celebratory event in people’s lives? 

Luz and Jack (Chili’s)> As a brand, in the past year, we’ve really focused on jumping into trending moments with either larger brand POVs or through community moderation, and it has elevated our social presence. We honestly felt lucky that we could jump on this so fast and make a memorable moment from user-generated content.

Patrick> If you want a successful viral moment, you can’t tell people what to think. People love Chili’s to a comical degree - it’s already a sacred place to some couples. So we had genuinely zero doubt that people wouldn’t propose, and who wouldn’t want to see that? (Bozos).