The return of Chi-Chi’s is nearly upon us.
The casual-dining Mexican brand on Monday will open a restaurant for the first time since disappearing completely in 2004.
The location in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, will serve a mix of Chi-Chi’s favorites such as chimichangas and deep-fried ice cream as well as some new, more elevated fare, like quesabirria tacos.
The restaurant itself will feature modern decor and ambiance as well as a more prominent bar area with more than 100 tequilas.
Prices for mains range from $15 for two ground beef tacos with a side of rice to $24 for a Baja combo plate featuring a short rib taco, two enchiladas, beans and rice.
There are also appetizers, salads, bowls and desserts.
Spearheading the chain’s comeback is Michael McDermott, a restaurateur and the son of Chi-Chi’s co-founder, Marno McDermott.
The younger McDermott last year struck a deal with Hormel Foods, which owns the Chi-Chi’s brand name, that will allow the name to be used on restaurants once again.
“CHI-CHI'S is back stronger than ever,” Michael McDermott said in a statement. “We're bringing back the food, energy, and fun that people love, now with a fresh twist for a whole new generation.”
McDermott has said he plans to open two Chi-Chi’s this year in Minnesota and will then look to franchise the concept. The first location, at 1602 West End Blvd. in St. Louis Park, is in the former home of McDermott’s own Rojo Mexican Grill.
To support the endeavor, Chi-Chi’s is hoping to raise $3.5 million through a crowdfunding campaign. It has currently raised $2.4 million with a month to go.
Marno McDermott and former NFL player Max McGee opened the first Chi-Chi’s in 1975 in Minneapolis. They went on to expand the concept around the Midwest and then the East Coast, helping to introduce many Americans to Mexican cuisine.
They later sold the brand, and it changed hands twice more through the 1980s and ’90s as it grew to about 200 locations. In the early aughts, it was struggling under then-owner Prandium and eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
Around that same time, a Chi-Chi’s near Pittsburgh was identified as the source of a hepatitis A outbreak that would sicken 660 people and lead to four deaths. The cause of the virus was traced back to green onions. The next year, Chi-Chi’s closed its remaining U.S. restaurants.
Chi-Chi’s is one of a number of extinct restaurant brands trying to make a comeback recently. Steak & Ale, Ground Round and Hot ’N Now are all opening restaurants again, hoping to tap into consumer nostalgia.
It will enter a tough market for full-service Mexican chains. Sales in that segment rose just 0.7% in 2024, which was below the 1.1% average growth for full service as a whole, according to data from Technomic’s Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
Additionally, two full-service Mexican chains—On The Border and Abuelo’s—have filed for bankruptcy this year.
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