Chi-Chi’s making comeback 20 years after its last restaurant closed

Twenty years after closing the doors of its last restaurant, the popular Mexican restaurant chain Chi-Chi’s is set to return.

Homel Foods, the current owner of Chi-Chi’s trademarks, announced Tuesday that it’s granting Michael McDermott, son of the restaurant’s founder, to use the name on restaurant locations, which are expected to open in 2025.

“We have seen the impact our restaurant has had on individuals and families across the country and believe there is a strong opportunity to bring the brand back in a way that resonates with today’s consumer – an updated dining experience with the same great taste and Mexican flavor,” McDermott said.

The food chain filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 8, 2003, and was struggling to regain its footing, when evidence of food poisoning at the Beaver Valley Mall location in Monaca first came to light in late October.

Health officials learned of the outbreak from emergency room doctors, who noted an unusually high number of hepatitis A cases. Interviews with patients eventually isolated the Chi-Chi’s restaurant as a common thread.

On Nov. 3, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDOH) issued an advisory, and suggested anyone who had eaten at the mall location within the past 14 days should receive an immune globulin shot against the hepatitis A virus.

The restaurant was immediately closed and four customers died, at least three of them from liver failure.

Over 650 people became sick -- many with debilitating consequences, including one liver transplant. Among the cases were 13 employees of the restaurant. Primary and secondary cases, some caused by shared food, included residents of seven states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration assisted the PDOH in its investigation to find the source of the disease, eventually traced to green onions. The green onions, served raw or undercooked at the restaurant, were linked to a company that imported them from Mexico, the Castellini Company. Chi-Chi’s filed a lawsuit against Castellini, but was unsuccessful.

The release did not say where the new locations will be opened, how many there will be or exact opening dates. Before Chi-Chi’s closed in 2004, it had amassed more than 200 locations across the U.S.

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