The reason why Mexican restaurants give you free chips is to enhance their customer experience and keep their guests entertained and occupied while they wait for their food.
The free chips that Mexican restaurants give you also stimulates your appetites for drinks and main courses and also builds customer loyalty.
The chips that Mexican restaurants give you are low cost to the Mexican restaurant, so they can be a strategic business decision to boost overall revenue, by encouraging more sales of drinks and keeping their customers happy and engaged.
The reason why plates are always hot at Mexican restaurants is to keep the food at an optimal temperature, which prevents heat loss from the food and also helps to maintain the quality of the food.
Keeping the food at good quality and at optimal temperature is especially important for Mexican dishes with cheese or dishes that need to stay fresh and flavorful.
Many of the Americanized Mexican food dishes are assembled and then are placed under a heat lamp or in a broiler or even in an oven to melt cheese and keep the entire Mexican food dish hot.
The plate itself is also part of the Mexican food cooking process and absorbs heat and ensures that the food remains hot all the way to the table.
Warm or hot plates help the Mexican food maintain it's hot temperature longer.
A cold plate absorbs heat from the hot Mexican food and causes the food to cool down immediately.
And many Mexican dishes are also served with cheese and putting a plate and food into the broiler or under a heat lamp helps melt the cheese to a nice gooey texture.
And hot plates also help preserve the foods flavor and texture, especially with foods that have fats and oils which can congeal at lower temperatures.
And in some regions, there's also a strong preference for hot meals, with a saying like, "If the meal is not boiling, it is cold".
The plates in Mexican restaurants are often kept on a warming shelf or in a heating unit with other ingredients and dishes and some plates, especially the ones with cheese covered dishes such as with enchiladas, are placed in a type of broiler or salamander to melt the cheese, which also makes the plate hot.
And in some cases, the entire assembled plate of food is put in an oven to be heated through before it's served and some plates are kept under a heating lamp to ensure the food remains hot and fresh until it is served.