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Business

TGI Friday’s targets Chili’s in musical rib war

By
Richard Morgan
Published Nov. 2, 2014, 11:48 p.m. ET

Remember the jingle? “I want my baby-back, baby-back, baby-back ribs …”

The song — once rated by Ad Age as the jingle “most likely to get stuck in your head” — is being reprised, sort of, in a belated dig at Chili’s that TGI Friday’s chief Nick Shepherd chooses to call an “homage.”

Shepherd is referring to an ad campaign that Friday’s is launching on Monday, which opens with a theme song reminiscent of Chili’s jingle. Friday’s new campaign gives it a twist, however, when a voiceover intones: “They wrote a jingle about ribs. Friday’s is writing a symphony.”

So begins the start of a “rib war” in the restaurant industry’s hyper-competitive casual-dining category.

“Ribs are a benchmark,” Shepherd said. “Either you have a great rib or you don’t.”

Friday’s newest $10 offering, called the Rib Flight Trio, serves up three sections of baby-back ribs, each with its own flavor. Customers can actually pick from five flavors, as Friday’s is adding three new ones to its Signature Jack Daniels and Tennessee BBQ standbys.

Shepherd insists that Friday’s rib play — much as the $10 “Endless App” promotion that has allowed guests to choose unlimited appetizers since July — was conceived not out of desperation but as a means to entice a new generation into the chain’s 900 locations.

Highly coveted millennials have demonstrated a marked preference for so-called fast-casual eateries like Panera and Chipotle. Never mind that their parents mostly dragged them into Friday’s, Chili’s and other similar dining spots.

Friday’s is trying to bring the youngsters back with its promotions, the most recent of which, Shepherd says, is in “a product category nobody right now is trying to own.”