P.F. Chang's Climbs from 22nd to Third in Same-Store Sales Growth

P.F. Chang's has moved from 22nd place to third in same-store sales growth among its casual dining competitors, one year into a turnaround led by CEO Jim Mazany, according to publicly reported earnings compiled by the privately owned chain. The Asian fusion brand now says it can own the Asian dining category outright — a claim that will face its first real test as 2027 planning begins.

CMO Holly Smith, who joined around Mazany's transition and previously held roles at Joe's Crab Shack, Ignite Restaurant Group, Macaroni Grill and TGI Fridays, oversees integrated digital marketing, brand storytelling and customer engagement. She attributes the traffic lift to a barbell strategy (serving both price-sensitive diners and big-night-out spenders) familiar from Applebee's playbook, paired with tableside flair — drinks that smoke, dumplings that sizzle like fajitas.

"In different economic situations, people might pull back… They're looking for that reason to go out," Smith said. "There are lots of components that play into that value proposition, but we believe that having both of those opportunities really has played for us well this year."

What is the new value pitch?

The chain has overhauled its wine list, organizing it by flavor profile rather than varietal, and added Seven Daughters Moscato — the wine brand for which actress Taraji P. Henson serves as strategic advisor and creative collaborator. A new happy hour and three premium entrées round out the permanent menu changes. The promise is a broader tent; the caveat is that premium entrées and discounted happy hours must both deliver margin, and Smith offered no figures on either.

How did social media drive sales?

Smith frames the core problem as nostalgia: "I used to love to go to P.F. Chang's" was the refrain she heard from friends and family. The fix has been campaigns built around shareable tableside theater. The "Summer in Tokyo" campaign featured a sushi boat delivered with dry ice that smoked across the table. It has generated $2 million in sushi boat sales to date, according to Smith.

The audience split complicates the strategy. P.F. Chang's core consumer skews older and lives on different platforms than the younger diners the brand wants to recruit. To bridge that, the chain runs:

• A freelance content-creator team spread across Los Angeles, Dallas and New York City
• Kale, a platform for activating micro-creators to try the food
• Large-scale influencer campaigns with bigger talent — though no full celebrity partnerships yet

How does the brand use its pan-Asian identity?

With 200 domestic restaurants and 100 international locations, Lunar New Year is the one campaign the brand runs globally. "It's a really special time of year for us," Smith said, noting its cultural importance for a pan-Asian restaurant company.

The follow-up, "Autumn in Kyoto," features a spread of duck items, with a roasted duck coming in the holiday season. Smith cites aspirational restaurants — Buddakan, Hakkasan and Mr Chow — as idea sources, calling it "almost as if it's our responsibility to take these experiences and scale them across the country." Scaling premium dining experiences to suburban strip-mall economics remains the unspoken challenge in that ambition.

What role will AI play in 2027?

Smith's AI agenda is operational, not creative: P.F. Chang's has partnered with a company to build an internal AI system using the chain's own context layers (proprietary brand data) to make marketing more efficient. She frames it as discipline rather than novelty.

"We all have gut feelings, but your gut feelings can be wrong," Smith said.

Her stated target for the new year is positioning — "a little irreverent but still maintain that polished, casual big-night-out" — while holding older core guests and recruiting younger ones. Her case for Gen Z is demographic: they are now 30, have families, have good jobs and can afford to dine out, but lost five years of restaurant-going habits during COVID. Reintroducing a generation to the dining room, not just the menu, is the bet the turnaround now rests on.