In the booth of casual restaurants that are doing well, Chili’s is sitting alone. Shares of the chain’s parent company soared as much as 9% yesterday after it released quarterly earnings that prove Chili’s bets on dips and deals have more than paid off.

Brinker International, which gets 90% of its revenue from Chili’s, reported a 14% increase in same-store sales in Q3—the second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth—and a 6.5% increase in foot traffic. Its success stands in stark contrast to the rest of the casual dining industry that’s on track to see a record number of chains declare bankruptcy this year.

What’s working?

Social media ads and promotions for Chili’s special items and deals have successfully lured customers to its doors:

• The chain is extending its run of the Big Smasher, a $10.99 competitor to the McDonald’s Big Mac that launched in April and has been a “significant” traffic driver, according to CEO Kevin Hochman.
• The TikTok famous Triple Dipper, which lets patrons pick three apps and three sauces for $19.99, accounts for 11% of Chili’s total revenue—and its sales have increased 70% since last year.
• Sometimes success is as easy as a $6 margarita, or a $10 option if you want to swap out the house tequila for Don Julio.

It’s a very different case across the street. Restaurants you find next door to Chili’s feel like they are in the Bad Place as growth in spending at dining and drinking outposts continues to decline below the pre-pandemic rate. TGI Fridays suddenly closed 50 locations this week after reports that it’s preparing to file for bankruptcy. Red Lobster declared bankruptcy in May, and Hooters is struggling against “pressure from current market conditions.”—CC

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series. The City of Angels vanquished Gotham in Game 5 and clinched the title 4–1. A lot happened in the short sweep. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani separated his shoulder while trying to steal a base in Game 2 and struggled with the injury for the rest of the series. In Game 4, two rowdy Yankees fans interfered with a catch made by Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts, ripping the ball out of his glove (they were ejected). And last night, a series of defensive errors by the Yankees in the fifth inning helped the Dodgers come back from a five-run deficit: They won 7–6. While LA is taking home the Commissioner’s Trophy, New York has a consolation prize: The NYC mayor’s office estimated that each postseason game played in New York generated up to $25 million each.

Russia fines Google $20.5 decillion over YouTube content moderation. The silly-sounding number reflects that Russia is big mad at the video platform for failing to restore the YouTube accounts of state media outlets, which the tech company considers pro-Moscow propaganda channels. The fine, which is “20” followed by 33 digits, increases by $1 million every day it goes unpaid. Digital trends reported that $20.5 decillion is equivalent to all the money on Earth multiplied by 23,809,523. Russia might also still be smarting after YouTube suspended its AdSense program in the country over the summer, meaning creators there can no longer monetize their content with ads.

A flurry of earning reports dropped. And like the movie Frosty Returns, they featured some famous characters but didn’t add much to the plot. Meta reported record revenue but missed on user growth. Microsoft beat revenue expectations thanks to the AI-driven demand for its Azure cloud platform. Starbucks had a pretty meh report but CEO Brian Niccol revealed that the chain would stop charging extra for nondairy milk. DoorDash reported its first operating profit since the pandemic. And, despite crypto getting renewed interest as of late, Coinbase missed on revenue and earnings.—HVL

You have one less thing to worry about the next time you’re stuck at the airport: A new US rule went into effect this week that requires automatic refunds for passengers whose flights get canceled or significantly delayed.

No powers of persuasion needed. The onus is now on airlines to give you back your money in full—you no longer have to request a refund—using your original payment method. Your dollars must be returned to you within one week if you paid with a card, and within 20 days if you used cash or points.

On the books: The new rule standardizes carriers’ refund policies by officially defining “significant” delays as three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international, according to the Department of Transportation. Additionally:

• You’re entitled to a full refund if the airline changes your arriving/departing/connecting airport, adds a connection, or switches you onto a plane that’s less accessible if you have a disability.
• Airlines must recompense baggage fees for lost luggage (you still have to file a report) and for services like wi-fi or seat selection if they were paid for but not provided.

If this rule had been in place last year, it could’ve cost United, American, and Delta more than $1 billion each in refunds, according to the travel publication Upgraded Points.—ML

The app famous for shoving the 18 miles your high school friend’s fiancé runs every Saturday in your face might actually pose a national security risk. An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde was able to track the locations of world leaders like Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, and Joe Biden through their bodyguards’ Strava posts.

Journalists said they found 26 US agents, 12 individuals from the French equivalent of the Secret Service, and six Russian Federal Protection Service members on the popular fitness tracking app and discovered sensitive locations thanks to their data.

• Journalists were able to postliminarily identify the hotel President Biden stayed at in San Francisco during talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2023 because one US Secret Service agent went jogging a few hours before Biden showed up.
• The paper also found that a number of Putin’s bodyguards run near a billion-euro palace the Russian president has previously denied owning.

French and US officials issued statements saying the data would be looked into, but they weren’t too worried about security risks.

Big picture: This isn’t the first time Strava data seemed at odds with government security measures. In 2018, the Pentagon restricted use of the app and other location trackers on military bases around the world after it found Strava’s Global Heat Map could expose personnel locations in warzones.—MM

Red Lobster wishes it could put up those numbers. In reality, Atlantic cod ate that much capelin while migrating along Norway’s coastline. Scientists from MIT were able to document an event of that magnitude for the first time thanks to a sonic-based wide-area imaging technique, according to their research, published yesterday in Nature Communications Biology. The field hailed it as the largest predation event ever recorded in terms of number of fish involved and the size of the area over which it occurred. You may be wondering: Are there any capelin left? Yes. Thankfully, the cods’ lunch tab only accounted for 0.1% of the capelin in that region.—HVL