Before Chipotlethere was Chi-Chi’s Mexican food in the 70s & 80s
Perhaps she got creative in the kitchen with a retro sort of Mexican food recipecarefully clipped from that month’s issue of Good Housekeeping.
Maybe you also got to have burritos courtesy of the freezer casebut my mom didn’t buy those. And salsa? Wellit wasn’t fresh — just jarred.
Worse stillmy only acquaintance with guacamole growing up was the canned stuff (!) you could buy in the chips aisle. I never even experienced a fresh avocado and real guacamole until I was a legal adult — a fact which is astounding to melooking back. It’s a staple ingredient these days!
“A celebration of food!”
Boyhas our experience with this culinary genre changed significantly since the 70sespecially for those of us Midwesterners who moved to the desert southwest at some point.
Before there was Chipotle and Chevy’sBaja Fresh and QdobaI’m pretty sure it was Chi-Chi’s that changed the Mexican food game for me in the 80s. Remember Chi-Chi’s Mexican-ish food?
Watching that old commercialis it any surprise to hear this company was started by non-Mexicans in… Minnesota? (Read more about that and the company history below.) Neverthelesswe have Chi Chi’s to thank for at least trying to expand our culinary horizons.
Sureit was a large chain with a negligibly Mexican food menubut at the timeit was a gigantic leap forward towards authenticity — as well as our first experience with taking nearly our entire dinner home in a box because we ate too many chips and salsa. Oops. And at least the guacamole was made fresh. – BB
Vintage 80s Chi-Chi’s lunch menu
Chi-Chi’s restaurant history (from 1979)
From an article by Pam LueckeCourier-Journal (LouisvilleKentucky) October 41979
Until 1977John Stephens & Co. was a securities broker and dealer in Minneapolis. At that pointhis company purchased a restaurant operating in conjunction with a popular Minneapolis night spotthe Left Guard.
The restaurant was named Chi-Chi’safter the nickname of the wife of one of its foundersMarno McDermott. Mr McDermott is now chairman of the board of Chi-Chi’s Inc.and the restaurant’s other founderMax McGeealso serves on the board.
John Stephens & Co. president Shelley Frank entered the Chi-Chi’s picture when McDermott approached him as a potential head of the company in 1977. The two men had been acquainted from a business transaction several years ago when Frank was involved in new concept development for Heublein and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Frank says he didn’t have any particular urge to leave KFC at the time the Chi-Chi’s possibility presented itselfbut one visit to the restaurant in Minneapolishe claimsconvinced him. “I had studied so many different concepts and ideas,” Frank recalled. “This really compared with nothing else I’d seen.”
Frank credits the company’s current happy status to its heavy investment in people. While the three tenets of a successful restaurant used to be “locationlocationand location,” Frank maintains they are now “managementmanagementand management.”
In addition to his own background with KFC and other large restaurant chainsthe company’s vice president of operationsDonald Stelleyboasts a background as head of operations for Zantigo’s. Other key personneltooFrank sayshave been lured away from competing restaurant chains.
And there is competition. Despite the fact that Mexican restaurants in generaland full-service Mexican restaurants in particularstill represent a small portion of the total restaurant business,
Frank is well aware that he and KFC were not the only ones to conclude this segment offers great potential for growth.
Evidence of growing interest in the field can be found in recent acquisitions of Mexican restaurant chains by conglomerates. As he sees it“Mexican food today is where the pizza business was 12 years ago.”
One barrier to full American acceptance of this ethnic food linethoughis its imageFrank said. Even if people haven’t tried ithe saidthey often assume Mexican food will be hot.
Chi-Chi’s menu has consequently been “massaged to appeal to the American palate,” Frank said. To further overcome resistance to trying ita new Chi-Chi’s traditionally gives its food away during the first week it is opena trick Frank tried with considerable success back in his Zapata dayshe said.
And while prices do not stay free for longthey do remain lower than those of many full-service restaurants. Because of the nature of Mexican foodChi-Chi’s relies less on costly ingredients such as beef than many of its non-Mexican competitors.
As the Louisville investment firm of Hilliard & Lyons said last month in explaining a strong “buy” recommendation for Chi-Chi’s stock: “Chi-Chi’s could well have hit the soft underbelly of the medium-price sit-down meal so attractive to fast-food patrons whose taste buds have matured.”
Or as Frank observed: “All of the alternatives were getting more expensive. Chi-Chi’s seemed to be positioned exactly where voids existed.”
Are there still Chi Chi’s restaurants around?
So what happened to Chi-Chi’s? Are they still around? The answer is noat least not in the United States.
Once a super fun and popular spot for Mexican cuisineChi-Chi’s faced financial struggles — and was certainly not helped by a damaging blow to its reputation due to a Hepatitis A outbreak in 2003. These challenges led the chain to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcyclosing or selling off its remaining U.S. locations.
As of 2023if you want to go to a Chi-Chi’s restaurantthere’s just one left — and it’s in ViennaAustria.
Chi Chi’s salsa and other grocery items
Chi-Chi’s restaurants may no longer exist in the United Statesbut their salsa didn’t get the memoand it’s still going strong in grocery stores. Available in various flavors and heat levelsthis salsa serves as everything from a chip dip fix to a meat topping.
Chi Chi’s has also expanded its grocery line to include other Mexican staples like tortillas.
While it’s not the same as dining in a Chi-Chi’s restaurantthis shift to retail at least allowed the beloved retro brand to remain part of American kitchens in a new form.
Chi Chi’s alcohol keeps the spirit alive
Missing the chain’s livelyfiesta vibe? You can still find a little piece of Chi Chi’s spirit in your local liquor store!
Yepthe brand rolled out ready-to-drink cocktails and Chi Chi’s alcohol mixes that bring a dash of that old flair right into your home. Mostly inspired by Mexican favoriteslike margaritasthey’re handy when you’re feeling a little nostalgic… or just don’t want to mess around with a cocktail shaker.
Chi Chi’s Hepatitis A outbreak
The 2003 Hepatitis A outbreak mentioned above was a critical turning point for Chi-Chi’sleading to a long-term negative impact on public perception of the brand. Traced back to green onions served at a Pennsylvania locationthe outbreak resulted in several deaths and hundreds of illnesses — and multiple lawsuits.
The public health crisis not only affected the well-being of customersbut also marked the beginning of the end for the company’s restaurant operations in the United States.
The incident became a case study of the importance of food safety measuresand had a long-lasting effect on the restaurant industry as a whole.
4 Responses
Is there a vintage recipe for pico de gallo salsa?
Going to Chi-Chi’s in the 80s and 90s was a big deal; forget trying to get in to the one in our area on a Friday or Saturday night unless you were prepared for a long wait! And there was a good reason why — their food was amazingsimply put. I for one loved their chimichangas. SadlyChi-Chi’s couldn’t compete with the more authentic Mexican restaurants that are now popularand in the US they never recovered from a hepatitis outbreak in the early 2000s linked to their green onions. From what I understand they’re still popular in Europe.
I would go there immediately and order the Pollo Magnifico if it was an option – see if it lives up to my nostalgia hype. In 1988it was possibly one of the best chicken dishes I’d yet experienced in my young life!
My husband and I were just talking about Chi Chi’s the other day. We used to take his aunt to one in suburban Chicago for the lunch buffet they served there. This would have been sometime during the mid/late 1980’s. At the time we greatly enjoyed itbut I don’t think I would like it as much anymore!
Used to go to dinner at one in Pennsylvania in the mid 1990’s and enjoyed the entrees. Was sorry to see them go since they’d been around awhile and at one point had been very popular.