[ithos]

Chili's restaurants are named for chili peppers, NOT bowls of chili! See their logo?

I don't believe that is the case.

Lavine had grown up eating chili cheeseburgers at Burger House and Goff's Hamburgers, and those memories stayed with him when he got into the restaurant business. His father-in-law was renowned racecar driver and designer Carroll Shelby, who had a special place in his heart for chili. Shelby created the world's first Championship Chili Cook-off in 1967, which is still held to this day in Terlingua, Texas. Lavine, naturally, was present at these cook-offs, even acting as a judge and noting the attendees' excitement. As he mentioned, "In Texas, there's two things people will talk about if they eat — barbecue and chili." They picked the name Chili's for their new restaurant as it was short and catchy, and hopefully would get a lot of press from it. They didn't expect to sell a lot of actual chili, but did, and so much more too.

What It Was Like To Eat At The Original Chili's