Charleys Cheesesteaks & Wings added seven menu items, overhauled its Bite Club Rewards program and launched a new brand campaign, "It's the Hot That Counts," the company announced Oct. 1 in a press release.

The 850-unit chain framed the changes as a direct response to convenience increasingly driving where customers choose to eat. The menu expansion, detailed below, pushed out Oct. 1.

The new items:

• Steak Bomb — steak, pepperoni, grilled onions, sweet peppers, mushrooms, Parmesan and provolone
• Pit Boss BBQ — steak, grilled onions, BBQ sauce, white American and shredded cheddar
• Caveman Fries — cheddar cheese sauce, bacon, tomato, jalapeños, Charleys seasoning and chipotle ranch
• Cowboy Fries — cheddar cheese sauce, bacon, Charleys seasoning, BBQ sauce and ranch
• Two deluxe sides — mac & cheese bites and onion rings

The menu engineering is deliberate. Charleys said consumers increasingly prioritize convenience over healthfulness, which the chain views as an opening: offer more hot, made-to-order variety and pull purchases away from cold grab-and-go items competing for the same convenience occasion.

"This campaign is about reminding people that a quick meal can still be a really good one," Dee Hadley, Charleys' chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

The loyalty refresh follows the same logic. Charleys added a rewards store that lets members redeem items starting at 25 points, structured across five redemption tiers. Earning mechanics stay unchanged: one point per dollar spent through the brand's app, website or in restaurants. The shift aligns Charleys with a broader industry move toward tiered redemption menus and away from static, points-only programs.

Both moves are built to scale with a chain that is growing quickly. According to Charleys' franchise disclosure document, the brand grew from 672 units at the start of 2023 to 826 units by the end of 2025 — a gain of 154 locations in three years. The FDD projects 50 additional openings this year.

The unit economics support the expansion. Average unit volumes exceed $845,000 systemwide, and locations in mall food courts and airports surpass $1 million in AUVs.

Charleys has also moved well beyond its mall food court base. The chain now operates in strip centers, standalone buildings and select Walmart locations, and has opened units inside convenience stores and gas stations, some with drive-thrus — formats that put it in direct competition with the grab-and-go cold case.

With 50 openings projected this year and a menu now engineered for hot hold-and-serve speed across those formats, Charleys is positioning made-to-order heat as its wedge into convenience-driven traffic.