What Happened to Chi-Chi's? The Salsa That Built It, Then Broke It

What happened to Chi-Chi's? It was already in bankruptcy court when contaminated green onions in its salsa caused what a CDC spokesman called the largest hepatitis A outbreak believed on record in the US. If you grew up eating there, this one is for you. Chi-Chi's started in 1975 in Minnesota with a Super Bowl hero, Max McGee, and restaurateur Marno McDermott. By 1986 there were about 200 of them: big, loud, colorful dining rooms where free salsa and chips landed on every table. Then came new owners, falling sales, and in October 2003 a bankruptcy filing. Days earlier, diners at the Beaver Valley Mall restaurant near Monaca, Pennsylvania, had eaten mild salsa made with contaminated green onions; the CDC's final study counted 601 people sick and 3 deaths. Within a year every US Chi-Chi's was closed, Outback bought the real estate, and the only Chi-Chi's left was the jar in the chip aisle, until one restaurant came back in 2025. CHAPTERS 0:00 Chi-Chi's in the chip aisle 1:23 Max McGee and the first Super Bowl 2:47 Founding Chi-Chi's in Minnesota, 1975 3:40 The boom years 5:34 Foodmaker and the long slide 8:41 Bankruptcy, 2002-2003 9:23 Beaver Valley Mall, autumn 2003 11:23 What the CDC found 14:02 The end of the chain, 2004 16:43 The salsa that survived 18:36 What really happened IMAGE CREDITS Photos: Wikimedia Commons, Flickr (Creative Commons), Salem State University Archives (Salem News collection, CC BY), US National Archives DOCUMERICA, CDC (public domain). Some images are used under fair use for commentary and criticism; all rights belong to their owners. The full list of 75 Creative Commons photo credits (author and licence) is in the pinned comment. #RestaurantChains #FastFoodHistory #DefunctRestaurantChains #ChiChis #ChiChisRestaurant #WhatHappenedToChiChis #RestaurantHistory #MexicanRestaurant #VanishedRestaurantChains #HepatitisA #BusinessHistory #TheLastReceipt