Chi-Chi's

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Chi-Chi's driveway sign

Chi-Chi's was a popular Mexican restaurant chain from 1975 to 2004. It went out of business in the United States following a 2003 Hepatitis A outbreak that began at one of their locations outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Chi-Chi's is still in operation in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Indonesia. Chi-Chi's also marketed a line of grocery foods (later purchased by Hormel) with an emphasis on salsa.

1 Founding
2 Management and marketing
3 Bankruptcy, Hepatitis A, and closure in North America
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Founding

Front of "shuttered" Chi-Chi's restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia

Chi-Chi's was founded in 1975 by restaurateur Marno McDermott and former Green Bay Packers player Max McGee. ^[1]

[edit] Management and marketing

[edit] Birthdays and celebrations

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Besides the food, Chi-Chi's was also known for celebrating patrons' birthdays with a special version of the Happy Birthday song (sung to the tune of the chorus of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" ("Glory, Glory, Halleluia").) Chi-Chi's version:

Happy, Happy, Happy birthday.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday,

To You, To You, To You. Ole!

If a guest dined at Chi-Chi's on their birthday they would be given a sombrero to wear while the staff sang this song to them and presented them with one serving of Mexican fried ice cream. Usually a Polaroid picture was taken of the guest during the festivities.

There was also a second birthday song (sung to the tune of "La Cucaracha") used in some restaurants. It went:

So it's your birthday,

Happy birthday to our guest;

So it's your birthday,

Chi-chi's wishes you the best! Ole!

For other celebrations, there was a separate generic congratulatory song (Also sung to the tune of "La Cucaracha.") It went:

Congratulations,

(Boom boom.) Chi-chi's wishes you the best.

Congratulations,

(Boom boom.) Chi-chi's wishes you the best! Ole!

[edit] "Ramon"

Chi-Chi's employee training videos contained a recurring live action character named "Ramon" who explained new dishes or procedures to employees. Ramon was notorious for wearing Hawaiian style shirts and smoking large cigars in what appeared to be obvious non-smoking areas.

[edit] "Salsafication"

Chi-Chi's used the term "Salsafication" and its many forms (i.e. "Salsarific", "Salsafy", "Declaration of Salsafication", et al) in menus and training videos. Store managers also used the term in meetings and in daily operations as a motivational tool. In 2001, Chi-Chi's applied for a trademark^[2] on the word "Salsafication" but was denied by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

[edit] Slogans

"A celebration of food."
"Life always needs a little salsa."

[edit] Bankruptcy, Hepatitis A, and closure in North America

Chi-Chi's last owner while still in business was Prandium Inc., which had filed for bankruptcy several times, including in 1993 as Restaurant Enterprises Group Inc. and in 2002 as Prandium.^[3] On October 8, 2003, Chi-Chi's and Koo Koo Roo, another Prandium subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy themselves.^[3]

In November 2003, a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chi-Chi's was hit with the largest hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history, with at least 4 deaths and 660 other victims of illness in the Pittsburgh area,^[4] including high school students who caught the disease from the original victims.^[5] The hepatitis was traced back to green onions at the Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Pittsburgh. While the sickness was not linked to the cleanliness or staff of the restaurants themselves, Chi-Chi's took a hit from the outbreak: by mid-2004, Chi-Chi's only had 65 restaurants, less than half of the number from only four years before.^[6] Although Chi-Chi's settled the hepatitis A lawsuits by July 2004,^[7] the outbreak sealed the fate of the already-bankrupt company.

In August 2004, Outback Steakhouse bid $42.5 million^{[citation needed]} 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.^[6]

Outback had hoped to convert many of the properties to their 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. Many of the former Chi-Chi's properties still sit unused as of 2007.

Hormel Foods, who had bought the rights to use the Chi-Chi's brand on grocery products years ago, still produces Chi-Chi's salsa and related products as of 2007, separate from any restaurants.