Football season is in full swing, and restaurant chains are rolling out crowd-pleasing tailgate favorites to win over fans.
In our series "Tailgate Taste-off," Business Insider is pitting these chains against each other to uncover the best versions of popular game-day dishes.
Nothing says football season like a juicy, classic cheeseburger from your favorite local chain, and while chicken products are one of the biggest fast-food and casual-dining trends as we kick off 2025, the burger still reigns supreme among many US consumers.
Restaurant Business reported that limited-service chains where burgers are a core menu item generated $110 billion in total sales in 2023, more than double the sales generated by limited-service chicken chains like Popeyes and Chick-fil-A.
In 2024, casual dining chains capitalized on America's need for beef.
Chili's and Applebee's introduced value meals that highlighted burgers. Chili's added its Big Smasher, a play on the McDonald's Big Mac, to its "3 For Me" value menu, while Applebee's released the "Really Big Meal Deal," which included a chicken sandwich or bacon cheeseburger, bottomless fries, and a drink for $9.99.
"We've always had incredible burgers on our menu, but for about a year now, we've been hearing more and more frustration from fast-food fans over rising costs," Chili's director of culinary, Brian Paquette, told Business Insider last spring, adding it's one of the reasons the chain is leaning into burgers and drawing inspiration from fast-food favorites.
We ranked classic cheeseburgers from four chain restaurants — Applebee's, Chili's, Buffalo Wild Wings, and TGI Fridays — based on taste and value.
Here's how the four chain restaurants' cheeseburgers ranked, from our least to most favorite.
My least favorite burger came from TGI Fridays.
The burger came on a brioche bun and had a side of fries.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I ordered the cheeseburger at the restaurant I visited in Massachusetts. It cost $12.49, excluding taxes and fees, and came with a side of french fries.
I live in New York City, but I had to travel further afield to try the chain's burger because many of my local TGI Fridays restaurants have closed.
In early November, the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Reuters reported that it was facing $37 million in debt, which led to some underperforming restaurants closing.
The TGI Fridays location I visited in Massachusetts is locally franchised and owned, so it's not included in the larger brand's bankruptcy filing.
The cheeseburger was topped with two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and red onion.
The burger didn't automatically come with any sauce.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The burger, like the other burgers I tried in this taste test, was served on a brioche bun. When I lifted the burger to examine the toppings, I noticed that the very soft bun had partially stuck to the melted cheese.
This wasn't necessarily a knock on its own, but adding a sauce or butter to the bun could have made it less dry.
There's no sauce on the burger, but there's ketchup provided on every table, or you could request mustard or ketchup on it if you desired. However, I tried it completely on its own.
The burger was a touch overdone, even though I ordered it medium.
I thought the burger was slightly overdone.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I requested my burger to be cooked medium, but it came out closer to well-done and was quite dry. That said, I did enjoy the flavor of the meat, which I found to be peppery and well-seasoned.
The sliced tomato tasted fairly fresh, but I found the lettuce limp and forgettable. The burger had a generous serving of pickles and onions, which I enjoyed. However, overall, I found this burger to be lacking in flavor, and a layer of sauce could have gone a long way.
The fries were also well-seasoned, and I enjoyed them.
Next up was the Oldtimer with cheese from Chili's.
The Oldtimer can be ordered with or without cheese.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
At the Massachusetts location I visited, the most classic cheeseburger on Chili's menu cost $13.29, plus tax.
Though Chili's is not primarily a burger restaurant, burgers are a major part of the brand's strategy, which appears to be working.
"Over the past two and a half years, we've removed around a quarter of our menu to focus on our core four offerings: burgers, crispers, fajitas, and margaritas, which now represent 47% of our business," Kevin Hochman, the president and CEO of Chili's parent company Brinker International Inc., said in October.
In the chain's third-quarter earnings report, Chili's reported a 14% increase in same-restaurant sales and a 6.5% increase in traffic last summer compared to the same three-month period in 2023.
The Oldtimer Burger was topped with cheddar cheese, pickles, shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, diced red onions, and mustard.
The burger comes topped with a flavorful layer of mustard.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The cheddar cheese was perfectly melted, and the burger patty also had a nice char on the outside. The burger was definitely cooked medium and had a nice juiciness to it while remaining slightly crispy on the outside.
When I lifted the top bun, I saw a light smear of mustard on top of the cheese. While it wasn't an enormous amount of mustard, it permeated each bite.
I thought the mustard could have been dialed back a bit.
The toppings all tasted fresh, but the mustard was slightly overpowering.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The mustard was quite sharp, and while I do like mustard, it was a bit too much for me.
However, the rest of the burger really impressed me. The char on the smashed patty was perfectly crispy, and the other ingredients were fresh. The red onion brought a nice bite, and the brioche bun held everything together. I also liked the choice of shredded lettuce, which added a crispy freshness.
The fries were also solid: warm, crispy, and well-seasoned.
Overall, it was a good classic burger, but I've had Chili's burgers I've enjoyed more in the past, like the Big Smasher, which is their take on a McDonald's Big Mac, and the chain's southwestern-inspired Alex's Santa Fe burger.
My second favorite burger came from Applebee's.
The classic cheeseburger came with a gooey layer of cheese peeking out from beneath a shiny bun.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I ordered the burger as part of the chain's "2 for $2X" deal, which also allowed me to get an order of boneless wings and a chicken tender basket.
However, the burger typically costs $16.99, excluding tax, at the location I visited in Brooklyn, New York.
This year, Applebee's teamed up with the NFL as the league's official grill and bar partner, recognizing a strong overlap between their customer base and NFL viewers.
"We know our guests are football fans," Applebee's chief marketing officer Joel Yashinsky told Business Insider, adding, "This season, we've been all in on the NFL."
Data collected by Applebee's in April revealed that 64% of its guests were interested in or very interested in the NFL, and around 34% had watched the NFL in the past year, which helped shape the chain's strategy for the football season, Yashinsky said.
The Classic Cheeseburger came with two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and pickles on a brioche bun.
The two slices of cheese completely covered the beef burger patty.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
There was a thick, gooey layer of cheese melted onto the burger. I thought the two slices of cheese did a lot to elevate this burger.
The outside of the burger patty was quite dark, which made me concerned it might have been cooked beyond the medium level I requested.
However, I found the burger was supremely juicy and cooked even slightly on the side of medium-rare.
The burger was slightly less done than the others I tried. I didn't mind one bit.
I loved the flavor of the cheese and fresh toppings.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The melted, tangy cheese covered every square inch of this burger, making for a balanced bite. The thickly sliced red onion also added a lot of flavor, and I thought the lettuce and tomato tasted fresh.
This burger didn't have any sauce, but it wasn't dry at all thanks to the cheese and buttery bun that seemed to melt in my mouth.
Though it was very similar in ingredients to the TGI Fridays burger, it just tasted better, juicier, and fresher.
My favorite burger came from Buffalo Wild Wings.
The burger came with two burger patties sandwiched between a soft bun.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I ordered the All-American Cheeseburger at my local Buffalo Wild Wings in Brooklyn, New York. It cost $14.49, excluding tax.
Since Buffalo Wild Wings is primarily known for its traditional and boneless wings, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this classic cheeseburger.
The burger came with two beef patties, American cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayonnaise, and mustard.
The burger came coated in layers of melted cheese.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I was impressed that this burger came with two burger patties. Each patty was crispy on the outside and coated in gooey melted cheese.
When it arrived at the table, the bun was glistening, and inside was a hearty smear of mustard and mayonnaise.
The fries were tasty, thin, and well-salted, but I had to admit I preferred some of the other chains' thicker fries.
I thought this burger was a great value, and I scarfed down every delicious bite.
The patties were crispy on the outside but juicy within.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The mayonnaise and mustard added a lot of moisture and flavor to this burger, but it truly didn't need it.
The beef patties were juicy yet crispy, and the cheese was perfectly melted, adding a tangy, savory flavor to each bite. It felt like a more elevated version of a fast-food cheeseburger, and instantly transported me back to my childhood with its classic, fresh-tasting toppings and indulgent flavor.
The addition of the second patty really enhanced the burger. For just under $15, I also thought it was the best value of all the burgers I tried.
This burger delivered a winning bite, hitting all the right notes for a satisfying meal. I would definitely go back to try more of the chain's burgers — football season or not.