Cultural relevance has become the restaurant industry's new North Star

Brian Niccol really, really likes the idea of being culturally relevant. It has been a cornerstone of the brands he’s led, from Taco Bell to Chipotle to Starbucks.

In the first quarter of 2019, when Niccol was CEO of Chipotle, he made six references about becoming more culturally relevant, through both marketing and the menu.

Fast forward to 2026 and Niccol is now leading Starbucks, talking about the company being “back in culture,” using activations at Coachella and the Winter Olympics as examples. In April, he said the coffee chain’s menu innovation is also “moving at the speed of culture.”

Industry shift

The difference between 2019 and now is that Niccol is no longer alone.

More chains are working to become culturally relevant in some way, shape, or form, and they’re rolling that objective into their broader business strategies. When Kevin Hochman was named CEO of Chili’s in 2022, for example, he talked at length about making Chili’s “cool again,” while his Chief Marketing Officer George Felix said, “We’re on a mission to make Chili’s more relevant in culture.”

Since her appointment to CEO in 2024, Liz Wiliams has made it her mission to ramp up El Pollo Loco’s relevancy, including the rollout of “Loco Moments” during March Madness and the introduction of Loco Tenders at the Revolve Festival, an invite-only party hosted during Coachella.

Meanwhile, when Lawrence Kim was named president of IHOP that same year, he shared that one of his biggest goals was to make sure the brand was “moving at the speed of culture.” This is why we’ve seen IHOP partner with social media influencer Mr. Fantasy, for example, or jump into fantasy football’s “24-hour challenge” trend in which league losers are subjected to the “punishment” of eating nothing but pancakes for 24 hours.

None of these anecdotes are coincidental, by the way. Niccol, Hochman, Felix, Williams, and Kim all cut their teeth at Yum Brands, where former Yum CEO Greg Creed and longtime CMO Ken Muench developed the R.E.D. framework for the company’s marketers at Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut to use consistently. The R stands for “relevant” (alongside easy and distinctive). Yum’s broad adoption of this framework has shaped several initiatives in the past 15 years, including Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos launch and KFC’s revolving celebrity Colonel Sanders campaigns.

The playbook has proven to be wildly successful and now guides initiatives across the industry as Yum executives spread their wings to other companies. It isn’t just former Yum leaders pulling pages, however. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said his company’s goal is to “show up in culture,” particularly through partnerships with popular IPs such as Minecraft and KPop Demon Hunters.

Wendy’s March Madness dunks campaign was created to connect with customers in a “more culturally relevant way.” Applebee’s is leaning into “demand-led activations tied to cultural moments,” according to CEO John Peyton. The O-M-Cheese Burger, for example, generated more than 9 billion impressions on social media following its launch last year.

And so on and so forth.

Cultural relevance growth

In the first quarter of 2015, there were no references to cultural relevance on earnings calls from the biggest public restaurant companies. In 2019, Chipotle’s Niccol was the only public CEO talking about it as part of the company’s strategy.

By 2023, McDonald’s was striving to be culturally relevant on a local level as it applied to its menu in China, while Wingstop CEO Michael Skipworth said, “As we scale the brand to become a national brand, a household name, we continue to lean into culturally relevant moments that can resonate with guests.”

And in Q1 2026, there were 17 references to cultural relevancy, including again from Skipworth, who said the idea has become critical to cut through a noisier environment.

“How we consumed media just 10 years ago was different. It was very concentrated and controlled by a much smaller group of individuals. Now anybody can be an influencer. Anybody can launch a social media account and gather followers,” Skipworth said during a recent interview. “The democratization of media and how consumers engage with social media in particular has created a need for brands to ensure they are part of culture because that’s where the consumer is and what the consumer cares about.”

This democratization is why IHOP moved its social media team in-house last year, to ensure it had a stronger pulse on what consumers talk and care about and to ensure the execution of Kim’s ultimate goal of moving at the speed of culture. During a recent interview, IHOP Executive Director of Brand Calendar Strategy Samantha Strong said the team is constantly looking for ideas and flavors that are trending and “bringing that to life in a unique way that ties in with our strategy.” This is how the chain’s Dubai Chocolate Pancakes came about and why the chain is currently working with franchisees to offer a chicken and banana pancake menu hack in line with the “Chicken Banana” viral song and dance.

“We now have access to what guests are looking at and engaging with in real time, as well as franchisees that are tapped into what’s happening in local markets,” Strong said.

Cultural relevance, she added, isn’t just about being a part of a broader conversation, but “being a part of guests’ lives and moments that matter to them.”

“Ultimately, it’s being top-of-mind for guests when they’re considering restaurants,” she said. “They are thinking about all of the different options that exist and if IHOP feels relevant, then they are coming to us.”

Relevance strategies

Strong said a mom and her son drove to California from Arizona last year when the Dubai Chocolate Pancakes were only available in a handful of markets, for example.

“That type of love and passion is what you get when you stay on top of culture,” she said. “It shows we’re matching moments that matter.”

Strong made it a point to note that IHOP is only focused on the type of moments that make sense for the brand, however, which is why Dubai Chocolate and fantasy football worked so well. Anything more comes with some risk as the environment becomes noisier, according to Richard Leslie, founder of Atlanta-based marketing agency Surface.

“’Trying’ is the operative word here,” Leslie said during a recent interview. “Everyone is trying now and it’s worse to be culturally relevant in the wrong way and wrong place than not doing it at all.”

Surface is currently working with Red Robin on how to find that chain’s right way/right place. It recently launched Towering Double Cheeseburger Sliders, for instance, to capture “table envy," with a supporting campaign that features parkour influencer Lorena Abreu. To avoid cluttering instead of cutting through the noise, Leslie said it’s important to start with the product and deliver your messaging to your core audience.

“You want to titillate the people who really drive your business. You have to design the menu for the people who really love what you do. If other people don’t love what you do, that’s OK, let them leave — that’s the idea of being culturally niche,” Leslie said. “You can’t be culturally relevant if you’re relevant to everyone. You have to select niche audiences. That’s what’s cool about it.”

Also, he added, you don’t have to have the marketing budget of a Chili’s or Taco Bell to play in this space.

“Bigger brands are trying to participate in culture. For smaller brands, at more of a microlevel, having a real point of view, whether it’s from the chef or the region or something else, and being focused is what enables them to compete,” he said. “Adding a brand experience that’s meaningful to a specific group of people is what allows smaller brands to punch above their weight on cultural relevance.”

Leslie points to Church’s Texas Chicken as a strong example of punching above its weight in this conversation. The chicken chain has fewer than 800 locations, but it is referenced in several hip-hop and rap songs from the likes of Gucci Mane, Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Keke. That’s because Church’s has established a strong presence in underserved urban communities where not a lot of other chains exist.

Because of this presence, Church’s locations remained relatively unscathed during the 2024 Ferguson, Missouri, protests following the shooting of Michael Brown, while other establishments suffered significant damage, indicating a sort of informal community protection.

“That screams cultural relevance,” Leslie said. “Social media can be looked at anywhere on the planet, but smaller brands that focus on their geographical area first and have outreach with their community and core guests are able to level the playing field with the Taco Bells and other chains that have ubiquity and bigger budgets.

“Cultural relevance is about creating a brand experience that makes sense and that is meaningful to a specific group of people.”