Nashville Hot Mozz, a cheesy app inspired by TikTok, hit the menu at Chili’s Grill & Bar Thursday.
The secret menu item is a hack of Fried Mozzarella, one of the options in Chili’s Triple Dipper appetizer bundle, which has garnered more than 30 million views on TikTok.
Guests who order the Triple Dipper can choose three appetizers and three dips for anywhere from $11.99 to $15.79, depending on location. Favorites include Chicken Crispers, Big Mouth Bites (mini cheeseburgers with onions and ranch) and the aforementioned Fried Mozzarella, served with marinara sauce.
The big draw is the stretchy cheese pull when a fan bites into the gooey Fried Mozzarella. Now guests can give their cheese pull a bit more heat, as the Nashville Hot Mozz is fired up with—you guessed it—Nashville hot sauce.
The Nashville Hot Mozz does not appear as an option in the Triple Dipper appetizer lineup, but customers in-the-know can now sample and post a spicier cheese pull on TikTok.
“Nashville Hot Mozz doesn’t exist without the viral moment our iconic Triple Dipper is having this summer,” said George Felix, CMO of Chili’s, in an email to Restaurant Business. “Watching one cheese pull after another on TikTok, a member of our leadership team asked if we’d ever tried our fried mozzarella in our Nashville Hot sauce. More than 30 million views and a trip to the test kitchen later, we’re answering the call of sauce enthusiasts everywhere. We wanted to move quickly so we launched it as a secret menu item, and we will see if Nashville Hot Mozz deserves a permanent spot on the menu.”
Chili’s push on bundled value offers and on-trend items has paid off for the Dallas-based casual-dining chain. The $10.99 Big Smasher Burger, introduced in the spring, was a win for both cash-strapped consumers and the chain’s bottom line.
And its 3 for Me value menu, which includes an appetizer, entrée and non-alcoholic beverage starting at $10.99, is on par with many fast-food meals and has boosted sales.
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