A lot of people got sick eating at one of the Firefly restaurants in Las Vegas; at least 294.

The Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) concluded that of the 21 food items that were analyzed, one item, cooked chorizo (a type of sausage), tested positive for Salmonella. Culture and PFGE-pattern results of the Salmonella isolate obtained from the cooked chorizo matched those of the outbreak strain.

Environmental Health staff contacted Firefly restaurant management to gather more information about the handling of the chorizo product. The chorizo came into the restaurant raw and was subsequently cooked by Firefly restaurant staff.

It is likely that the outbreak was due to local cross-contamination in the restaurant’s kitchen and not from a contaminated commercial food.

Now, KTNV reports the Firefly location on West Sahara Avenue is closing for weekday lunch and has laid off a handful of its staff members.

“Letting people go is devastating because they have worked for us for so long,” co-owner Tabitha Simmons tells Action News.

Tabitha’s husband and Firely co-owner John Simmons says the couple has been fighting their hardest to dig the Las Vegas chain out of the hole.

“It’s just sad because we’ve been vilified and we did not want anyone to get hurt. We certainly weren’t managing our restaurants poorly,” says Tabitha.

Consumers are apparently making their own decisions.

“We don’t want to go away. We don’t want to be run out of here. We want to continue being a part of community and we hope Las Vegas gives us that chance,” they tell Action News.