DALLAS — Chicken Crispers and chicken wings will play prominent roles at Chili’s in the 2024 fiscal year, especially when customers sit at the bar to watch sports.

“Our goal is to make it easier for operators to execute higher volumes, improve the recipes on chicken and fries, bring in new mac and cheese and new dipping sauces, and lastly, merchandise crispers in a more relevant way that would drive bigger piece counts,” said Kevin D. Hochman, president and chief executive officer of Brinker International Inc., the owner of Chili’s, in an Aug. 16 earnings call to discuss financial results for the fiscal year ended June 28. “We launched this platform at the end of May, and we've already seen some very positive results, including over 40% more crisper volume.”

A new bar menu will cater to football fans this fall.

“In addition to featuring our premium burgers and Chicken Crispers on that new bar menu, I'm pleased this year we'll be graduating the virtual brand It's Just Wings to the real world where they will now have the marketing power and distribution of Chili's Grill and Bar,” Hochman said. “It's Just Wings is one of the largest, if not the largest, virtual brand in the world, and it's likely to get a lot bigger in the for-real restaurant world.

“We see an opportunity to leverage It's Just Wings brand as a trip driver for bar visits and providing credibility to Chili's as a wing player. We'll start with football season and drive the wings business throughout the year, leveraging relevant sports viewing occasions to drive traffic. It's Just Wings will also appear in the everyday dining room menu, and we expect it to drive add-ons and trade up in the appetizer section.”

After running a four-week national TV advertising program in the 2023 fiscal year, Chili’s will run a 21-week program this fiscal year and increase marketing expense by $55 million to $60 million.

Comparable restaurant sales growth at Brinker International rose 8% in the fiscal year, which included 7% at Chili’s and 17% at Maggiano’s Little Italy, another chain owned by Brinker.

“Maggiano's moved fully out of its post-pandemic recovery mode and delivered record pretax profits for the brand with particular success in solidifying their off-premises channel,” said Joseph G. Taylor, chief financial officer at Brinker.

In the fiscal year Brinker had net income of $102.6 million, or $2.33 per share on the common stock, which was down 13% from $117.6 million, or $2.62 per share, in the previous fiscal year. Total revenues of $4.13 billion were up 9% from $3.80 billion.

In the fourth quarter, net income of $54.2 million, or $1.22 per share on the common stock, was up 35% from $40.2 million, or 92¢ per share, in the previous year’s fourth quarter. Total revenues of $1.08 billion were up 5% from $1.02 billion.

Brinker International’s stock price on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $34.36 per share on Aug. 16, which was down 6% from an Aug. 15 close of $36.37 per share.

In the 2024 fiscal year, Brinker expects total revenues to range between $4.27 billion and $4.35 billion and capital expenditures to range between $175 million and $195 million.

Inflation should ease in the current fiscal year, Taylor said.

“In the category of what a difference a year makes, we expect commodity inflation for the fiscal year '24 to be approximately 1%,” he said. “When compared to the respective quarters of last year, we expect commodity price to be deflationary for the first two quarters with a low single-digit inflation the last two quarters."