P.F. Chang’s has been a special brand to chief marketing officer Sonika Patel long before she joined the company.
Two decades ago, she went on her first date with her husband at a P.F. Chang’s. “He was the one who introduced me to lettuce wraps,” says Patel. “My hope really is to bring that magic back and make P.F. Chang’s that destination that everyone can go to, whether it’s for big moments like graduation celebration for your kids or whether it’s something really simple like a date night.”
The company’s marketing team is very focused on pop culture. Recently, they helped out a TikToker Balvia who had made a fake cake shop online, and delivered the real orders she got. The effort garnered millions of likes.
This week, they are rolling out a limited-time “Freakier Flavors” menu in partnership with Disney’s upcoming Freakier Friday film release. Patel loves the ability to work within culture in her role as CMO.
“Every day is different,” says Patel. “One day you’re tasting a new menu item or a new beverage, and another day you’re delivering cakes for a TikTok joke. I love that there is this flexibility to play and respond. My team and I were constantly, listening and watching culture and trying to see how we can find meaningful ways to connect with our guests.”
Brand Innovators caught up with Patel from her office in New York to talk about the TikTok effort, the Disney partnership and how the brand builds loyalty in 2025. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you talk about going viral with TikTok cakes where that started from and how it became such a phenomenon?
That’s one of our favorite moments this year. It all started with a TikToker called Balvina posting that she started a fake cake business where accidentally she ended up getting five real orders to deliver cakes. And we thought that was such a funny thing and such a funny moment where we were one of the early brands that engaged with her video. And we said, hey, listen, you know what? This is a great opportunity for us to lean in and help her out because it’s a fake business. And so she really needs cake.
We showed up with our famous great wall of chocolate cake. What was exciting about this whole thing was that the team in a matter of hours went from, hey, this is funny to, hey, we’re all in. And we delivered cakes to her. The internet loved it. We got a lot of love from the community where our comment got 1.3 million likes. The video of our team delivering cakes to Balvina and her sisters actually ended up being our top performing TikTok for this year. Beyond numbers, what this proved to us is that if you move fast and move at the speed of culture, sometimes that’s where magic happens.
Is there an insight that you guys are operating with that led you to jump on this?
The insight really here is that consumers love it when brands show up with heart. You don’t just show up as brands, but you show up as fans. That’s what we did. We thought about how to genuinely help Balvina in this situation. We’ve done these kinds of things before where we’ve engaged in social media and community management, but what made this moment so different was that we kind of helped connect the lines between the online and offline world and we made it real. We took it a step further and we showed up with intention. We showed up in a way that was generous and we wanted to help. That’s what differentiated this, that speed, that creativity and the follow-through.
Are you taking any learnings from this and applying it forward?
We want to keep this energy going. We want to be able to keep building on this element of surprise, but then this element of also connecting with culture. This summer, we’re going to launch a limited time freakier flavors menu, which is inspired by Disney’s Freakier Friday movie. And it’s really exciting because it’s our way of bringing this beloved movie moment,full circle. Like in the 2003 movie, Freaky Friday, there was a gentle nod to P.F. Chang’s with the House of Chang’s restaurant.
We thought this was a great way for us to bring guests along and have them come in, experience all the fun with our new menu. The menu includes our dinner specials, some fun drinks like the Crystal Ball and The Switcheroo and also our very delicious Pink Slip Ube Cheesecake. We’re hoping that this menu will give us a way to bring back a little bit of movie magic for our guests of all ages.
How does leaning into these cultural moments like a movie launch help you connect with audiences?
For us, it’s important to be part of the conversation. The movie is part of pop culture. If you’re not part of the conversation, you’re not really part of the consideration either. It’s important to stay top of mind as a brand and we want to be able to constantly build those lasting emotional connections with the consumers. We’re not just a restaurant brand, we are part of people’s stories. We’re part of their memories. We’re part of their celebrations. We want to make sure that we’re also part of their feeds and be a part of their lives. Whether it’s something like a Disney partnership or the Bellvina TikTok example, we want to make sure we’re showing up with authenticity and intention to be able to build those connections and stay relevant to our guests.
As someone who has held leadership roles at some of the biggest brands in the world, what is your approach to leadership and building teams?
Great teams are built on the foundation of trust, accountability, and a group of people that have the same purpose. When I’m hiring, I’m looking for people who have collaborative spirit, resilience, and most of all, curiosity. My role as a leader is to make sure that I set a clear vision and create a culture that allows ideas to flow freely. I want to make sure that everyone feels the freedom to be able to share their ideas, no matter what their title is. That’s when magic happens, when people feel safe to come up with those unconventional ideas and feel like they have the support of their team to follow through on some of those calculated risks.
Can you talk about how you’re building loyalty to drive in restaurant traffic?
Loyalty really starts with guest experience. But beyond the guest experience, we are investing in digital tools and also a loyalty program to make sure it’s very easy for guests to stay connected. For example, our P.F. Chang’s Rewards gives guests a 10% cash back in the form of Chang’s Cash on eligible purchases. We’re giving guests more reasons to keep coming back. For instance, you get perks like a free appetizer or dessert on your birthday. It doesn’t matter whether it’s restaurant dine-in or ordering to go, you have the ability to leverage these rewards in either situation. It’s not just transactional, it’s emotional. That’s where these moments like the Balvina TikTok moment really come into play. It creates that fun, that spark, and that joy that reminds people why they love P.F. Chang’s and hopefully that keeps them coming back.
Can you talk about how new menu offerings and the dining experience also helps drive people to come back?
At P.F. Chang’s, we aspire to give people a great experience and an affordable luxury. So making sure that the guests have this elevated dining experience, but at prices that are accessible. One of the ways in which we are doing that with our current menu is that we have individually portioned dinner specials at $16.99 and weekend cocktails at $8.99. We want to make sure that guests who come to P.F. Chang’s for different occasions, whether it’s a large family gathering or if it’s just two people enjoying dinner on a weekday, you can experience P.F. Chang’s and enjoy it and have a great time.
How are you thinking about innovation at the restaurant?
Innovation is really at the heart of everything we do. It’s from whatever bold flavors and combinations we come up with to how we show up in culture. We’re constantly asking ourselves, ‘What more can we do? How can we make sure that the guest experience is unforgettable?’ We’re pushing ourselves to reimagine our food, our experience, our technology, and even our storytelling. Innovation is across all of these things. I go back to our Freakier Flavors menu, because that’s a really good example for how the culinary team took inspiration and came up with something truly unexpected, which is at the center of creativity, pop culture, and a little bit of nostalgia.
What are the big marketing trends that you’re thinking about going into the back half of the year?
AI is something that I’m certainly thinking about. How do you leverage that and execute with it in a responsible way? Our teams are playing with that a little bit right now to figure out how that can aid all of the marketing day-to-day and reduce our time to get things done more quickly. The other thing is how do you constantly keep listening to what’s happening in the world and respond to our guests and keep your pulse on the culture? Then the last bit is about how consumer behavior is changing. How they consume and how they dine is evolving. We always want to make sure that we are tuned in whether it’s group celebrations or individual personalized options.
