If you were a kid who grew up going to Chili’s Grill & Bar — as I was — I have some news. Chili’s Original Chicken Crispers were recently removed from the chain restaurant’s menu, a spokesperson confirms.
Reddit is not handling this well. There’s even a change.org petition to bring them back.
But before you go crying in your honey mustard, hear this: The Original Chicken Crispers have been a fraction of the chicken tender sales at Chili’s. The similarly-named Crispy Chicken Crispers now make up 80% of crispy chicken orders, Chili’s tells The Dallas Morning News.
It wasn’t looking good for the aging Original Chicken Crisper, which has been on Chili’s menus since the early 1990s.
And what’s the difference between the old fave and the new chick in town? Chili’s still-on-the-menu Crispy Crispers are, well, crispier than the Original Crispers. Those ones you remember from the ‘90s, now just a memory, were tempura battered and smooth on the outside, with a soft bite.
The Original Chicken Crispers are but one of several Crisper creations on Chili’s menu, in fact. Beyond the popular Crispy Crispers, they also sell Crispy Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers. (We’re doing a lot of chicken definitions here. You don’t need one for the Crispy Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers, right?)
A spokesperson says the old Crispers were removed to simplify the menu. It’s common for chain restaurants to keep efficiency in check by removing items that are not as popular.
Of course, the Original Chicken Crispers were not on the first Chili’s menu. When it opened in 1975, Chili’s was a single burger joint on Greenville Avenue in Dallas that served hand-punched fries and bowls of chili. (To this day, restaurant operators hire Chili’s co-founder Larry Lavine as a consultant, so they can learn how to make those great French fries.) Chili’s was started by some friends who had no idea they were creating the next big chain restaurant.
Chili’s is now operated by Brinker International, a public company headquartered in Dallas with a market cap of $1.44 billion. Brinker operates Chili’s, Maggiano’s and a newer “virtual” restaurant called It’s Just Wings.
But it’s R.I.P. to the OG C.Cs.
For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.
