(NEXSTAR) – Depending on which Chili’s restaurant you visit, there’s a chance one of the walls is adorned with an especially screwy picture.
No, it’s not your eyes playing tricks after too many Presidente Margaritas. That picture is supposed to be upside-down.
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The tradition of hanging an upside-down photo in the Chili’s dining area started at the original Chili’s location in Dallas, according to Jesse Johnson, the vice president of marketing at the company.
“At Chili’s, we take our food seriously, but not ourselves, and in the early days, team members began flipping one picture upside-down in restaurants as a way to bring that to life,” Johnson said in an emailed statement to NewsNation affiliate Nexstar.
No, not this picture. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
But before you go hunting for the screwy photo at your local Chili’s, it should be noted that not all restaurants adhere to this tradition. You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, though: Recent reports published by outlets in Maine have claimed there’s an upside-down picture hanging “in every single Chili’s restaurant in the nation,” crediting a 2018 article from Motley Fool with the information. Similar claims have also circulated on Quora (with pictures) and even an unofficial website for California’s tourism industry.
A self-identified former employee, in an old Reddit post, had also once claimed that new employees are informed of the quirky practice during training. But if that were ever true, it no longer seems to be the case: When contacted, employees at Chili’s restaurants in Maine and the Dallas metropolitan area told Nexstar that they were completely unaware of the picture-hanging tradition.
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It could be possible, then, that these upside-down pictures are simply a relic from the earlier days of the company’s history.
A representative for Chili’s was not immediately available to clarify. But if Jesse Johnson’s remarks are any indication, it’s quite possible you’ll notice a resurgence in screwy upside-down photos the next time you’re sipping on a Marg of the Month at the Chili’s bar.
“You won’t find [an upside-down picture] in every Chili’s restaurant today, but don’t be surprised if that changes as we work to embrace our rich history,” Johnson said.
