Chi-Chi's is a Belgian
restaurant chain
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...
and a Mexican-styled grocery items owned by MegaMex Foods. The son of one of the original co-founders recently revived the brand by preparing to open two restaurants in Minnesota. The name Chi-Chi's can also refer to the legacy Chi-Chi's namesake brand of Mexican food grocery products produced and marketed when the original North American restaurant chain owner sold the rights to use its name on said products in 1987.
Restaurant chain
Chi-Chi's is a single
Mexican restaurant currently operating in Vienna,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, that is a remnant of what used to be a much larger chain.
The company was briefly owned by
Tumbleweed, Inc. The chain also once operated in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
but exited those countries in 2004, and closed their German and Belgian locations in 2022.
Founding
Chi-Chi's was founded by restaurateur Marno McDermott (his wife's nickname was "Chi Chi") and former
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...
player
Max McGee
William Max McGee (July 16, 1932 – October 20, 2007) was an American professional American football, football player who was an End (gridiron football), end and Punter (gridiron football), punter for the Green Bay Packers of the National Foot ...
. The first restaurant opened at 7717 Nicollet Avenue South, in
Richfield, Minnesota
Richfield is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota. An inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis, Richfield is bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and Fort Snelling to the east, Bloomington to the south, ...
(a suburb of
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
) in early August 1976. McDermott had previously founded the Zapata fast-food Mexican chain, which later became
Zantigo.
From 1977 to 1986, the chain was run by former
KFC
KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...
executive
Shelly Frank.
When Frank took leadership, the chain moved its headquarters to his hometown of
Louisville
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
.
By March 1995, the chain had grown to 210 locations.
Management and marketing
In 2001, Chi-Chi's applied for a trademark on the word "salsafication" but was denied by the
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) is an administrative tribunal within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The TTAB is empowered to determine the right to register a trademark. It has no authority to determine the righ ...
.
The company's slogans were "A celebration of food" and, later, "Life always needs a little salsa."
Bankruptcy, hepatitis A, and closure in United States and Canada
Chi-Chi's last owner while the company was still in business in the United States and Canada was Prandium Inc., which had filed for bankruptcy several times, including in 1993 as Restaurant Enterprises Group Inc. and again in 2002 as Prandium.
[Spector, Amy. ''Nation's Restaurant News. October 20, 2003. FindArticles.com.] On October 8, 2003, Chi-Chi's and
Koo Koo Roo
Koo Koo Roo was an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in charbroiled chicken founded in 1988 by Los Angeles-based restaurateurs Mike and Ray Badalian. The name "Koo Koo Roo" was an onomatopoeic reference to the crow of a roost ...
, another Prandium subsidiary, filed for
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
bankruptcy themselves.
The flagship Chi-Chi's restaurant in Richfield, Minnesota was put up for sale in October 2003.
In November 2003, a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chi-Chi's was hit with the largest
hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is an infectious liver disease caused by Hepatitis A virus (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them, is ...
outbreak in American history, with at least four deaths and 660 other victims of illness in the
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
area,
including high school students who caught the disease from the original victims.
[. ] The hepatitis was traced back to
green onions
"Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. One of the most popular soul songs ever, and R&B instrumentals of its era, it utilizes a twelve-bar blues progression and features a rippling Hammond M3 ...
at the Chi-Chi's at
Beaver Valley Mall near
Monaca, Pennsylvania
Monaca ( ) is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 5,625 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located northwest of Pittsburgh and is part of ...
, about northwest of Pittsburgh. Chi-Chi's settled the hepatitis A lawsuits by July 2004.
[. ''Nation's Restaurant News''. July 12, 2004. FindArticles.com. Accessed October 24, 2007.] At the time the suits were settled, Chi-Chi's had only 65 restaurants, fewer than half of the number of four years prior.
In August 2004,
Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Aus ...
bid $42.5 million for the rights to buy its choice of Chi-Chi's 76 properties, but did not purchase the Chi-Chi's name, operations, or recipes. On the weekend of September 18, 2004, Chi-Chi's closed all 65 of its remaining restaurants.
Outback had hoped to convert many of the properties to its own restaurants, but instead eventually sold the majority of the properties to
Kimco Realty Corporation, a
real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...
company in
New Hyde Park, New York
New Hyde Park is a village in the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the anchor community of the Greater New Hyde Park area. The population was 10,257 at the time of the 2 ...
.
Revival
On December 3, 2024, it was announced that the restaurant chain will re-launch in the United States in 2025. Michael McDermott, son of original owner, Marno McDermott, will lead and operate the new restaurants under Chi-Chi's Restaurants, LLC. Hormel Foods, the current owner of the Chi-Chi's trademark, has allowed the use of the Chi-Chi's name for the physical restaurant locations.
Europe
In 2002, Francis Leroy of Belgium purchased the master franchise for Belgium, and later the master franchises for Europe in 2008, North Africa in 2011, and China in 2012.
The European-based company tried to expand into Denmark in 2011 without much success. In the first half of 2015, the chain in Belgium had to close five under-performing restaurants.
Chi-Chi's expanded into
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
by opening their first restaurant in Vienna in 2018.
The last snapshot of the European chain's official website in January 2022 showed that the company had three locations left, two in Liege, and one in Brugge, all in Belgium. There is no evidence that the website was active much beyond May 2022. The Brugge location announced on Facebook that it was closing in October 2022.
Grocery brand
In 1987,
Hormel Foods
Hormel Foods Corporation, doing business as Hormel Foods or simply Hormel, is an American multinational food processing company founded in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, by George A. Hormel as George A. Hormel & Company. The company originally fo ...
acquired the rights to produce and market Chi-Chi's branded salsa and related products in the United States. By 1996, Hormel made $60 million annually from their product line.
In 2009, Hormel formed a 50:50 joint venture with Mexico-based food manufacturer Herdez Del Fuerte called MegaMex Foods, LLC, to manufacture and distribute Mexican food products in the United States. The Chi-Chi's brand was part of this new company along with other related food brands such as Herdez,
La Victoria, and
Búfalo brands.
The Chi-Chi's brand included salsas, dips, tortillas, tortilla chips, and taco seasoning mixes. Chi-Chi's branded food products are usually found in major supermarkets and discount stores.
In April 2021, MegaMex hired a TikTok personality as their Chi-Chi's brand ambassador for that year's Cinco de Mayo advertising period.
See also
*
List of Tex-Mex restaurants
References
{{Hormel
Mexican restaurants
Defunct restaurant chains in the United States
Restaurants established in 1975
Restaurants disestablished in 2004
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003
Defunct restaurants in the United States
Tex-Mex restaurants
Hormel Foods brands
1975 establishments in Minnesota
2004 disestablishments in Minnesota
American companies established in 1975
American companies disestablished in 2004