After closing the last of its locations in 2004 due to bankruptcy and a Hepatitis A outbreak,<\/a> the Mexican restaurant chain has returned. In its mid-90s heyday, Chi-Chi\u2019s boasted 210 locations<\/a>. Now, as the company launches one flagship location in St. Louis Park, Minnesota this month, it appears to be riding a wave of millennial nostalgia<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFor anyone who’s ever said, \u2018I miss CHI-CHI’s,\u2019 this one’s for you,\u201d the company wrote in a recent news release<\/a>. The 2025 menu will blend classic items, like Chi-Chi\u2019s original chimichanga and nachos grande, with fresh offerings like seafood enchiladas and a Manchego burger.<\/p>\n The restaurant chain\u2019s comeback is remarkable in any circumstances, but especially in a time of such economic turbulence<\/a>. <\/p>\n With inflation, job insecurity, and market<\/a> fluctuations<\/a> that have followed President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs,<\/a> American consumers have been cutting back on dining out. Restaurant visits have dipped 1 percent compared to last year, according to research by analysts Black Box Intelligence<\/a>. More than half of U.S. consumers \u2014 57 percent \u2014 say they are dining out less often compared to 12 months ago, a May survey<\/a> by Attest, a consumer insights platform, also found. <\/p>\n Millennials<\/a>, aged 29 to 44<\/a>, have already endured several bouts of economic instability including the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic-driven downturn. At the height of Covid, in 2020, the group became the largest generation in the country, according to Pew Research Center<\/a>. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n After closing its doors 20 years ago, the beloved Mexican restaurant chain Chi-Chi\u2019s has come back, riding a millennial-driven wave of 90s nostalgia (Sarah Stierch\/Wikipedia)<\/p>\n With that newfound power, lived experience, and a desire for comfort, the generation once lambasted for buying too much avocado toast now seems to be driving a new food trend: reviving affordable eats from the 1990s. <\/p>\n Chi-Chi\u2019s isn\u2019t alone. Other brands also seem to be catering those nostalgic taste buds. <\/p>\n KFC has reintroduced some popular menu items from back in the day. In August, the fried chicken chain announced it was bringing back potato wedges<\/a>, which were introduced three decades ago and later rose to \u201ccult status\u201d before being discontinued in 2020. This month marked the return of the 1990s-era Original Honey BBQ sauce after pleas from \u201cdesperate fans,\u201d the company said. <\/p>\n Taco Bell has reintroduced some 90s delicacies. The Double Decker Taco, first offered in 1995, and the Chili Cheese Burrito, which debuted in 1990<\/a>, are both back on the menu, the fast food<\/a> chain announced<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n In 2023, Chili\u2019s revived the \u201cBaby Back\u201d jingle from its 90s ads. The brand\u2019s chief marketing officer told Slate<\/a> in August that he had wondered how to make Chili\u2019s relevant again. <\/p>\n \u201cHow do we remind people why they loved this brand in the first place?\u201d said George Felix. Winding back the clock to the catchy tune seems to have worked. Sales have soared, seeing double-digit, same-store growth for the past five quarters, Restaurant Business<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n \u201cNostalgia can be kind of part of the psychological immune system, where, when something negative or threatening occurs, it can actually activate nostalgia, which then helps you cope with that negative experience,\u201d Chelsea Reid, an associate professor of psychology at the College of Charleston, told The Independent.<\/p>\n Food can serve as a \u201csocial surrogate,\u201d Reid said. \u201cWhen we experience food nostalgia, it arouses feelings of social connection, which then makes us feel comforted.\u201d<\/p>\n A 2019 survey<\/a> found that nearly one-third of millennials said they often or always felt lonely. More recently, a 2025 poll <\/a>found 26 percent of millennials felt lonely all or most of the time \u2014 a figure only surpassed by Gen Z, the age group below them.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Retail trends like low-cut jeans, leopard print, and mules have resurfaced and the fashion of 90s style icons Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Jennifer Aniston (pictured) and Aaliyah, to name a few (Getty Images) open image in gallery<\/p>\n A craving for the 90s may have stemmed from a desire for a simpler time, experts say, when there was no 24\/7 news cycles or incessant smartphone push notifications (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Maybe harking back to a simpler time is what\u2019s needed. Nostalgia \u201ccan help us fill in some of that space when we are trying to come to terms with the uncertain times that we’re in right now,\u201d Lindiwe Davis, a creative strategist, told The Independent. <\/p>\n In the 90s, there was no doom-scrolling or 24\/7 news cycle, so there were more opportunities to zone out. \u201cThere was a simpler way of thinking and being. And I think nostalgia kind of brings back a bit of a stabilizer,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThere’s something about returning to a place that felt very familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n Fast food can be a source of comfort. It\u2019s not only a way to treat yourself but also a way to fill yourself up during times of economic hardship, she said. \u201cThere is definitely a longing for that emotional safety and community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Consumers can easily pick-up fast food, making it an achievable option for nearly everyone. Fast food is \u201ca way to still be sociable with this really tight budget and still having a level of indulgence that feels accessible,\u201d Davis added.<\/p>\n Many millennials are now parents, and there\u2019s also a desire to share beloved brands of their childhood with their kids. Some research suggests that people tend to become more nostalgic during transitional periods, Reid said. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not just fast-food chains that are making a return to the 90s. Retail trends like low-cut jeans, leopard print, and mules have resurfaced<\/a> and the fashion of 90s style icons Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Jennifer Aniston and Aaliyah, to name a few.<\/p>\n Both Adam Sandler\u2019s 1996 comedy Happy Gilmore and Julia Roberts\u2019 1997 flick My Best Friend\u2019s Wedding are getting<\/a> sequels<\/a>; Leslie Nielsen\u2019s Naked Gun franchise recently saw a 2025 reboot starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. <\/p>\n Popular 90s TV shows, like Frasier and Full House, have already gotten the reboot treatment and a Family Matters comeback is reportedly<\/a> in development. <\/p>\n Back in the day, before Tivo<\/a> emerged, live TV was the only option; there was no streaming. There were no cellphones pinging with news updates or the draw of social media. Things felt simpler and cultural moments were more widely shared. A whopping 95 million<\/a> people watched the 1994 O.J. Simpson car chase live.<\/p>\n A 2023 YouGov poll<\/a> found that half of all Americans watch reruns at least once a week. Asked for the \u201cmajor reason\u201d why, 51 percent said they found them funny, while 44 percent said it brought them comfort.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Cultural moments were more widely shared in the Nineties. A whopping 95 million people watched the 1994 O.J. Simpson car chase live. (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Sitcoms, in particular, evoke \u201csomething that feels very familiar to so many of us, no matter your party line, no matter where you stand, no matter what socioeconomic group you belong to, you know, these were shows that were widely across the board,\u201d Davis said. <\/p>\n Whether it’s food, retail trends, or entertainment, she said, nostalgia can \u201ccreate a level of understanding what stability might have looked like for you at that time when things weren’t what they are right now, which is in such an extreme place and culturally.\u201d<\/p>\n For those who have already slipped back into their baggy pants and are watching Friends reruns, Chi-Chi\u2019s can now provide that long-craved taste from the past.<\/p>\n For many online, <\/a>that warm sense of nostalgia meant only one thing. As Reddit user put it<\/a>: \u201cIf they have the same fried ice cream as the old days, that\u2019s all I need.\u201d<\/p>\n If Chi-Chi\u2019s can come back after 20 years, millennials can only hope that maybe NSYNC is next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-209253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Chi-Chis_in_Brussels_-_Sarah_Stierch-copy.jpg\")
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