Chi-Chi's
Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHI : Chi-Chi's
Chi-Chi's was a popular Mexican restaurant chain. It also had a division of grocery foods, later purchased by Hormel Foods. Salsa was their top grocery food.
Contents
What's in a name?
The name Chi-Chi's was said to be a slang reference to the large breasts of a woman as claimed by the owner. It was often joked that this was the real reason for the chain's popularity.Birthdays
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 'Glory Glory Halleluia'). If a guest dined at Chi-Chi's on their birthday they would be given a sombrero to wear while the staff sang the Happy Birthday 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.In the company's later years, guests were asked to purchase a cake and camera package as there was no longer a complimentary picture or dessert.
Ramon
Chi-Chi's employees training videos contained a recurring character named Ramon that 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.Salsification
Chi-Chi's used the term Salsification and its many forms (i.e. Salsarific, Salsafy, “The Declaration of Salsafication”, “The Salsafication Proclamation”, et al) in menus and training videos. Store managers would also use the term in meetings and in daily operations as a motivational tool. In 2001, Chi-Chi's [applied for a trademark] on the word "Salsification" but was denied by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.Hepatitis Outbreak / Legal Trouble / Closing
In late 2003 and 2004, Chi-Chi's was faced with multiple lawsuits due to a food poisoning outbreak (specifically Hepatitis A) among customers who ate at the Beaver Valley Mall location of Chi-Chi's, located approximately 30 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At first, the health department could not find any violations that could have caused the outbreak. Eventually, it was believed that the source of the Hepatitis A was linked to green onions. Four people died, and about 660 others were sickened by Chi-Chi's food in fall 2003. The chain has said that it has paid more than $40 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits over the outbreak. Chi-Chi's was forced out of business due to backlash from the food poisonings; however, the grocery foods are still sold under the Chi-Chi's name.Sale
In 2004, Outback Steakhouse purchased the rights for the remaining 76 Chi-Chi's restaurants for $42.5 million dollars, and hoped to convert many of them to their own brand of stores. Outback instead chose to sell the majority of the properties to Kimco Realty Corp. of New Hyde Park, New York, a real estate investment trust company.External Links
- [Creepy Abandoned Chi-Chi's Blog] - Photos and discussion.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.