The Iconic Tequila Brand Chili's Uses In Its House Margaritas

Chili's margaritas are as popular as they are delicious, helping to fuel the company's recent resurgence. But no margarita would be complete without its tequila, and when it comes to Chili's, the chain's lineup of margaritas is no different. While Chili's uses several different tequilas in its specialty margaritas, each of the house margaritas — which come in classic lime, blackberry, mango, strawberry, watermelon, jalapeno, and dragonfruit — are always made using Jose Cuervo Tradicional Blanco Tequila.

For those unfamiliar, Jose Cuervo is the world's largest tequila brand, making its use in margaritas — both at restaurants and at home — quite common. As for Tradicional Blanco specifically, the silver tequila is the original recipe for tequila created over 250 years ago. Some people assume the casual dining chain serves low-quality alcohol in its mixed drinks, but Chili's use of the popular tequila brand makes the restaurant much more inviting to consumers who are harder to please.

While Chili's only uses Jose Cuervo Tradicional Blanco Tequila for its standard and frozen house margaritas, it's far from the only restaurant chain that utilizes the popular tequila brand. Jose Cuervo is used regularly in margaritas at TexMex restaurants like On The Border, which serves Jose Cuervo Tradicional Plata Tequila in its Classic Rocks House Margarita. The tequila brand can also be found in margaritas at non-Mexican restaurants like Olive Garden, which features Jose Cuervo Especial Silver in its Italian Margarita.

Cuervo's wide popularity is the result of years of marketing campaigns touting the company's tequila as ideal for margaritas. This first started when the tequila company ran its first-ever U.S. ad campaign  back in 1945. This campaign saw the company promote its tequila specifically and margaritas in general as a drinker's paradise. At the time, neither the brand nor the cocktail were popular in the United States. The campaign used the slogan, "Margarita: It's more than a girl's name" to attract new fans. In the years since, Cuervo's massive growth in popularity has made its use in margaritas (which have also grown in popularity over the past 80 years, thanks, in part, to the legendary Jimmy Buffet) even more undeniable.