Chi-Chi's

Chi-Chi's is a brand of Mexican food grocery products produced and marketed in North America. It was originally the name of an American chain of Mexican restaurants that was founded in 1975 by Marno McDermott and former Green Bay Packers player Max McGee. The owners sold the rights to use the brand's name on packaged grocery products beginning in 1987. The name was also used by a former European franchise through 2024 when its last location closed in Austria.

Following a hepatitis A outbreak in 2003 at a restaurant location near Pittsburgh, the American chain filed for bankruptcy. Its remaining locations were purchased by Outback Steakhouse in 2004, which were either rebranded or sold off. In 2025, Michael McDermott, son of co-founder Marno McDermott, opened a new restaurant in Minnesota, with plans to revive the American chain.

History

Chi-Chi's was a Mexican restaurant chain that was reduced to a single restaurant in Vienna, Austria, by 2022.[1] The company was briefly owned by Tumbleweed, Inc.[2] The chain also once operated in the United States and Canada but exited those countries in 2004, and closed their German and Belgian locations in 2022.

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.[10] On October 8, 2003, Chi-Chi's and Koo Koo Roo, another Prandium subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy themselves.[10] 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 outbreak in American history, with at least four deaths and 660 other victims of illness in the Pittsburgh area,[11] including high school students who caught the disease from the original victims.[12] The hepatitis was traced back to green onions at the Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall near Monaca, Pennsylvania, about 30 mi northwest of Pittsburgh.[13] Chi-Chi's settled the hepatitis A lawsuits by July 2004.[14] At the time the suits were settled, Chi-Chi's had only 65 restaurants, fewer than half of the number of four years prior.[15]

In August 2004, Outback Steakhouse bid $42.5 million[16] 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.[17] On the weekend of September 18, 2004, Chi-Chi's closed all 65 of its remaining restaurants.[15] 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 company in New Hyde Park, New York.[18]

Revival

On December 3, 2024, it was announced that the restaurant chain would re-launch in the United States in 2025.[19] Michael McDermott, son of original owner, Marno McDermott, would lead and operate the new restaurants as 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.[20] A few months later, McDermott announced that he would convert his two Rojo Mexican Grill restaurants in St. Louis Park and Maple Grove to the revived Chi-Chi’s brand.[21] The first restaurant in the revived chain opened in St. Louis Park, Minnesota on October 6, 2025.[22] The second Rojo Mexican Grill in Maple Grove was closed for good in November 2025 with the previously announced conversion plans being scrapped. No announcements were made about the construction of a possible second Chi-Chi's location.[23] The new menu of the revived concept combined several items from the defunct chain's old menu with items from Rojo's menu.

type	Private
fate	Closed (as restaurant chain in the U.S. and Canada)
foundation	1975 Richfield, Minnesota, U.S.
defunct	September 18, 2004 (restaurant chain in the U.S. and Canada)
industry	Restaurants
products	Mexican food

History

Bankruptcy, hepatitis A, and closure in United States and Canada

Revival

Grocery brand

European franchise

See also

External links

References