Chili's Night...remember?

Chili's "Create A Pepper" campaign exceeds goal

Chili’s Grill & Bar® and its patrons showed record-breaking support for the life-saving mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in September by helping to raise more than $5 million during the restaurant chain’s national fund-raising campaign, Create A Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer. This donation represents the largest corporate contribution made to St. Jude from a single campaign.

During the Create A Pepper promotion, employees at participating Chili’s restaurants nationwide encouraged guests to donate $1 or more for the opportunity to color a pinup of Chili’s signature pepper. In addition, Chili’s donated 100 percent of its profits from Monday, September 25 to St. Jude. Restaurants also raised funds through the sale of Create A Pepper gift cards and T-shirts as well as local, restaurant-based events. Franchisees and corporate vendors supported the campaign, making contributions in honor of Chili’s. Combined, these efforts enabled Chili’s to exceed its $3 million fund-raising goal by an astounding $2 million.

“Chili’s is a phenomenal friend to St. Jude, so it’s no surprise that along with its customers Chili’s raised the record-breaking amount of more than $5 million this year,” said John P. Moses, chief executive officer of ALSAC, the fund-raising organization for the hospital.

“Thanks to the enthusiasm of our employees, guests, vendors and franchisees, we far exceeded expectations for this year’s Create A Pepper campaign. We are pleased to know this record-breaking contribution will touch the lives of children for years to come,” said Todd Diener, president of Chili’s Grill & Bar.

Since the relationship began in 2002, Chili’s has raised more than $10 million for St. Jude. This year’s more than $5 million donation is part of Chili’s 10-year plan to raise $50 million for the construction of a new state-of-the-art research and clinical care building on the campus of St. Jude. The new building, to be named the Chili’s Care Center and scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, will house the Department of Radiological Sciences, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC), inpatient activity areas and new research laboratories.