The great Maya Angelou once said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” She definitely was not talking about the food at a Dallas-founded restaurant chain, but her words are surely ringing true among a certain set of people on social media lamenting a famous spot’s recent menu change.
On Dec. 8, Dallas Morning News writer Sarah Blaskovich tweeted about Chili’s discontinuing a menu item that’s been offered for years: the Original Chicken Crispers. In the tweet, she links to her article on the matter, sharing that yes, indeed, the tempura-battered Original Chicken Crispers are officially off the menu. This led to a wave of deep-fried social media woe and despair.
“Today, please — check on a friend who grew up on @Chilis Original Chicken Crispers and make sure they’re OK, OK?” tweeted Blaskovich.
Chili’s actually announced the news more than a month ago on Oct. 25 with a casual tweet. At the time, the message started its own pain train for Original Chicken Crispers-lovers the internet over.
“Like this tweet if you’re going to miss original chicken crispers,” reads the tweet. Online reaction to this news has been small-but-mighty, with Crispers fans taking to the airwaves to wrench their garments in torment over the shock and loss.
“This might be the worst day of my life,” tweeted one person on Twitter.
“The Chicken Crispers Doomsday Clock is at midnight,” wrote another.
“The extent to which I am not okay,” posted another person, tweeting directly at Chili’s. “I don’t know that I can ever forgive you for this.”
“THEYRE ALREADY GONE? IM GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK,” shouted another Twitter user.
“I am reconsidering ever going back to @Chilis unless they bring back ORIGINAL CHICKEN CRISPERS,” said another. “This is madness.”
A Reddit post on the matter, titled “Original Chicken Crispers are no more” also garnered a strong reaction from folks on the subreddit r/Chilis.
“This has been my comfort food since I was a child. Tempura batter is not hard to keep on the side. It’s a staple to their menu and the ONLY chain that does it justice,” said one user, in part, on Reddit.
“100% the only entree I’ve eaten at chilis for 30 years…Norman Brinker would [be] rolling in his grave,” wrote another Redditor, invoking the name of Chili’s former owner in an impressive display of Chili’s fandom.
Finally, some people found out the hard way, going into their local Chili’s hankering for the item only to find out it had already gone.
“Omg. Okay. I went to chilis last week and ordered what I thought were the OG crispers,” tweeted one person. “They WERE not. Thought it was a mistake and they told me no. I cried at the table. How could chilis do us like this??”
Fans have even gone so far as to start a Change.org petition for the Original Chicken Crispers which has so far garnered 429 signatures out of a 500 goal.
We reached out to Chili’s to find out why it removed the Original Chicken Crispers from the Chili’s menu, and a spokesperson told us that it all came down to menu simplification.
Chili’s formerly had 3 different chicken tender options: the Original Chicken Crispers, Crispy Chicken Crispers and Crispy Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers. Chili's said that since the Original Chicken Crispers were made with a tempura batter with a much smoother appearance, they tended to be a softer bite than Crispy Crispers and were ordered less.
“This menu change is part of our simplification and growth initiatives to reduce complexity for Team Members in our heart of house and ultimately provide a better experience for our Guests,” a Chili’s spokesperson tells TODAY.com.
“Right now, our culinary team is focused on perfecting our high-quality, hand-battered Crispy Chicken Crispers, which make up most of our chicken orders — and are quite craveable,” the spokesperson adds. “We encourage our Guests to come out and give them a try. They’re bigger than before and even juicier. And, Guests can choose from one of our flavorful sauces — honey mustard, BBQ or house made ranch.”
“So — to reiterate, our Crispy and Honey Chipotle Crispers aren’t going anywhere!” they say.
This, of course, isn't the first time the restaurant-going public has lambasted a decision to remove an item from a menu. In the fall of 2020, Taco Bell announced plans to remove the beloved Mexican Pizza from its menus — and within a month, a Change.org petition was initiated that garnered almost 70,000 signatures in a month.
That same petition ultimately received a total of 171,673 signatures by the time it got the attention of Taco Bell itself, who penned a thank-you to the petition in April 2022. In that note, Taco Bell announced it would bring the Mexican Pizza back in May 2022, and it still sits on menus today.
So, if Chili’s fans really want their Original Chicken Crispers back, they should get their clipboards out and get people signing — like 170,000 more people. Easy peasy.
