Nurse organizes happy hour to boost Chi-Chi's slumping sales

ROSS, Pa. (AP) -- A nurse has organized a happy hour to encourage people to patronize Chi-Chi's restaurants, whose sales have sagged since a recent hepatitis outbreak that sickened hundreds and killed three.
John O'Hanlon, who works at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, said he organized Tuesday night's "I Believe in Santa Happy Hour" at the Chi-Chi's restaurant in Ross Township to show people eating there is safe.
"My hope is that if people see a bunch of health care workers in the place that they'll realize it's OK to eat there," O'Hanlon said.
That restaurant and other western Pennsylvania Chi-Chi's outlets have seen business drop by as much as 80 percent since a hepatitis A outbreak was linked to another of the chain's restaurants in Beaver County last month. At least 650 people were sickened and three killed in the outbreak, which has been blamed on tainted green onions. O'Hanlon has invited nurses and others to join him at the restaurant, which will be offering discounted drinks and free appetizers.
"I think it's a great thing," said Steve Ziacan, general manager of the Ross store, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We're always happy to have the business -- everyone here is real excited."