Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., often known simply as Chipotle, is an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos, and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer.[4][5] As of December 2025, Chipotle has 4,000 locations.[6] Its name derives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name (from chilpoctli) for a smoked and dried jalapeño chili pepper.[7][8]

Chipotle was one of the first chains of fast casual restaurants.[9] It was founded by Steve Ells on July 13, 1993. Ells was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Chipotle. He was inspired to open the restaurant after visiting taquerias and burrito shops in San Francisco's Mission District while working as a chef. Ells wanted to show customers that fresh ingredients could be used to quickly serve food. Chipotle had 16 restaurants (all in Colorado) when McDonald's became a major investor in 1998. By the time McDonald's fully divested itself from Chipotle in 2006, the chain had grown to over 500 locations.[10] With more than 2,000 locations, Chipotle had a net income of US$475.6 million and a staff of more than 45,000 employees in 2015.[11]

By 2025, Chipotle had restaurants in 48 states and the district of Columbia but not in the states of Alaska nor Hawaii,[12][13][14] nor in the American overseas territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or Guam.

History

Steve Ells attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Afterward, he became a line cook for Jeremiah Tower at Stars in San Francisco.[15] There, Ells observed the popularity of the taquerías and San Francisco burritos in the Mission District. In 1993, Ells took what he learned in San Francisco[16] and opened the first Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado, in a former Dolly Madison Ice Cream store at 1644 East Evans Avenue,[17] near the University of Denver campus, using an $85,000 loan from his father.[10] Ells and his father calculated that the store would need to sell 107 burritos per day to be profitable. After one month, the original restaurant was selling over 1,000 burritos a day.[8] The second store opened in 1995 using Chipotle's cash flow, and the third was opened using an SBA loan. To fund additional growth, Ells' father invested $1.5 million. Afterwards, Ells created a board of directors and business plan, raising an additional $1.8 million for the company.[18] Ells had originally planned to use funds from the first Chipotle to open a fine-dining restaurant, but instead focused on Chipotle Mexican Grill when the restaurants saw success.[19][20]

In 1998, the first restaurant outside of Colorado opened in Kansas City, Missouri.[21]

In 1998, McDonald's made an initial minority investment in the company. By 2001, McDonald's had grown to be Chipotle's largest investor.[10] The investment from McDonald's allowed the firm to quickly expand, from 16 restaurants in 1998 to over 500 by 2005.[22] On January 26, 2006, Chipotle made its initial public offering (IPO) after increasing the share price twice due to high pre-IPO demand. At the time Chipotle had 500 stores.[23] In its first day as a public company, the stock rose exactly 100%, resulting in the best U.S.-based IPO in six years, and the second-best IPO for a restaurant after Boston Market. The money from the offering was then used to fund new store growth.[24]

In March 2005, Monty Moran was appointed president and chief operating officer of Chipotle while Ells remained chairman and CEO.[25]

In October 2006, McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle.[26] This was part of a larger initiative for McDonald's to divest all of its non-core business restaurants—Chipotle, Donatos Pizza, and Boston Market—so that it could focus on the main McDonald's chain.[27] McDonald's had invested approximately $360 million into Chipotle, and took out $1.5 billion.[18] McDonald's had attempted to get Chipotle to add drive-through windows and a breakfast menu, which Ells resisted.[28][29] In 2008, Chipotle opened its first location outside of the United States in Toronto.[30]

In January 2009, president and chief operating officer Monty Moran was promoted to co-CEO, a position that he would share with Ells, while Moran retained his president position.[31]

In a list of fastest-growing restaurant chains in 2009, Chipotle was ranked eighth, based on increases in U.S. sales over the past year,[32] and in 2010 Chipotle was ranked third.[33] Consumer Reports ranked Chipotle as the best Mexican fast-food chain in 2011.[34] The company serves approximately 750,000 customers per day.[35] In December 2010, Chipotle hired chef Nate Appleman to develop new cuisine. Appleman has won Rising Star Chef from the James Beard Foundation, was named "Best New Chef" by the Food & Wine magazine, and competed on The Next Iron Chef.[36]

In 2010, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audited Chipotle's Minneapolis restaurants, and found that some employees had been hired using fraudulent documents. In December, Chipotle fired 450 employees from its Minneapolis restaurants as a result of the audit, resulting in protests by local groups.[37][38] In February 2011, ICE expanded the audit to include 60 restaurants in Virginia and Washington, D.C.[39] which resulted in 40 workers being fired. In April 2011, the criminal division of the attorney general's office in Washington, D.C., joined the case, and ICE agents began interviewing employees at 20 to 25 restaurants in other locations, such as Los Angeles and Atlanta.[40] In response to the government investigations, Chipotle hired former director of ICE Julie Myers Wood and high-profile attorneys Robert Luskin and Gregory B. Craig.[41]

In April 2014, Chipotle announced an increase in menu prices for the first time in nearly three years, due to increasing costs for steak, avocados, and cheese. The price increase was expected to be rolled out from the end of second quarter of 2014 through the end of the third quarter.[42] In late 2015, Chipotle expanded its mobile strategy through delivery partnerships with tech startups like Tapingo, a delivery service that targets college campuses.[43]

In December 2016, Chipotle announced that co-CEO Monty Moran has stepped down from his role effective immediately with Ells becoming the sole CEO.[44][45] Eleven months later, Ells announced in November 2017 that he would be stepping down as CEO.[46]

In December 2017, Chipotle announced it signed a 15-year lease and in late 2018 will move around 450 corporate employees—currently housed in multiple buildings around downtown Denver—into the new 1144 Fifteenth Tower and occupy around 126,000 square feet or 5 floors of the 40-story tower.[47]

In February 2018, Chipotle announced that Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol would replace Ells as CEO starting on March 5 while Ells would retain his chairman position.[48] Many industry analysts praised Niccol's appointment saying that Chipotle "needed new blood".[49] Chipotle stock went up $30.27, or 12.04%, as a result of the announcement. However, other analysts criticized the announcement by saying that "the move goes against everything the burrito chain stands for".[50]

In May 2018, Chipotle announced that it would relocate headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach, California, in Southern California. Corporate functions handled in their Denver and New York offices would move to Newport Beach or to an existing office in Columbus, Ohio. This move would impact 400 workers, some being offered relocation and retention packages.[51]

In May 2018, Chipotle announced the "Chipotlane" and began testing it in the U.S.. The Chipotlane acts as a drive-thru, but it is for mobile order pickup only; customers are unable to order food at the handout window but are welcome to pick up their mobile orders through the Chipotlane or inside the restaurant. As of 2023, there are over 500+ locations which include the Chipotlane in order to make the restaurant run more efficiently.[52]

In June 2018, the company announced the closing of 65 under-performing restaurants.[53][54]

Ells broke all ties with the company in March 2020 by resigning as its chairman and departing from its board of directors.[55]

In January 2023, the company announced plans to hire 15,000 workers and expand to 7,000 locations, up from a previous goal of 6,000. This would double its footprint. At the time of the announcement, it had more than 100,000 employees.[56][57] An article in The Wall Street Journal in July noted the chain would focus on opening 700–800 new locations in small towns and cities as part of its plan to expand by nearly 3,800 locations, in territory traditionally dominated by chains like McDonald's and Applebee's.[58]

In 2023 Chipotle saw $9.9 billion in revenue with 14.3% growth year on year and $3 million in average unit volumes (per restaurant revenue) and 7.9% growth in comparable sales; in 2023 37.4% of their revenue came via online orders, third-party delivery services or their new Chipotlanes.[23]

In September 2024, Chipotle announced it was collaborating with Vebu, a company that develops automation and robotics equipment for the food industry,[59] on a new automated avocado processing machine, Autocado. The companies claimed that this machine could peel and cut an avocado in less than 30 seconds and operate unattended on a large batch, which could significantly reduce the time and labor required to prepare large quantities of guacamole.[60]

Chipotle's share price fell more than 9% after fiscal second quarter results showed same-store sales shrinking by 4%, compared to 0.4% in the prior quarter.[61]

In April 2025, Chipotle announced the opening of a location in Mexico by early 2026, looking to expand into new markets in the region.[62]

In August 2025, Chipotle announced plans of delivering food via drone aircraft within the greater Dallas area through a partnership with Zipline.[63]

Corporate affairs

International

Chipotle had 17 locations outside of the United States by October 2014 with the majority in Canada, and the UK was in the process of opening more locations.[93] The rate of overseas expansion was slower than expected. Many of the press reviewers thought that the food was overpriced for their area.

In July 2023, the company announced it would partner with the Kuwait-based Alshaya Group in its first-ever franchise deal to expand into the Middle East.[94]

In April 2025, Chipotle announced it had signed a joint venture with Alsea to open restaurants in Mexico by early 2026, and possibly in other areas in which Alsea operates in Latin America.[95]

In September 2025, Chipotle announced it signed a joint venture with SPC Group to open restaurants in Eastern Asia, with the first Chipotle restaurants opening in South Korea and Singapore in 2026. At the time of the announcement, Chipotle's existing international portfolio of restaurants included 60 locations in Canada, 20 in the United Kingdom, six in France, two in Germany, three in Kuwait and three in the UAE.[96]

Menu

Chipotle's menu consists of five items: burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, and salads. The price of each item is based on the choice of chicken, pork carnitas, barbacoa, steak, tofu-based "sofritas",[132][133] or vegetarian (with guacamole or queso, which would be at an extra charge otherwise). Additional optional toppings are offered free of charge, including: rice, beans, four types of salsa, fajita vegetables, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce.[134][135] Although Chipotle styles itself as a "Mexican Grill", its menu is more accurately characterized as Cal-Mex, a form of Mexican-American cuisine with its roots in California. When asked in 2007 about expanding the menu, Steve Ells said, "[I]t's important to keep the menu focused, because if you just do a few things, you can ensure that you do them better than anybody else."[136] Chipotle also offers a children's menu.[137][138] Some restaurants sell beer and margaritas in addition to soft drinks and fruit drinks.[139]

The majority of food is prepared in each restaurant. Some exceptions are the beans and carnitas, which are prepared at a central kitchen in Chicago, Illinois.[140] None of the restaurants have freezers, microwave ovens, or can openers.[141]

The chain experimented with breakfast foods at two airports in the Washington (D.C.) metropolitan area but decided against expanding the menu in that direction.[142][143][144] Starting in 2009, selected restaurants had offered a pozole soup,[145][146][147] which has since been discontinued. Starting in 2009, Chipotle tested a vegan chicken product (made by Gardein) called "Garden Blend" in various cities but discontinued it in 2010.[148]

In 2013, Chipotle began testing the tofu-based "sofritas" option (made by Hodo Soy) in Northern California restaurants; following its successful trial, it was rolled out nation-wide in 2014.[149][150] In June 2015, Chipotle began test marketing a pork and chicken chorizo-type sausage as a new protein option at selected locations in the Kansas City area.[151][152][153] Some food writers have expressed their health related concerns over the protein's relatively high sodium content since a 4 oz serving contains 293 calories and 803 milligrams of sodium[154] while the American Heart Association's recommended daily amount is less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium.[155] In contrast, the protein options with next highest sodium contents are Barbacoa with 530 milligrams and sofritas with 555 milligrams.[154] An earlier version of the Mexican sausage was tested in Denver and New York City in 2011,[156] but that test was terminated when that version of the sausage was perceived as looking too greasy.[157] Chorizo was discontinued in September 2017[158] but was returned to the menu in the following year for a limited time.[159]

In July 2020, Chipotle began test marketing a cauliflower rice option at 55 locations in Colorado and Wisconsin.[160]

In August 2021, Chipotle began testing a company-made vegan chorizo made with pea protein.[161] The vegan chorizo (now called plant-based chorizo) was subsequently released nation-wide as a limited-time only item on January 3, 2022,[162] before being removed on March 4, 2022.

Chipotle accepts fax orders, and in 2005 the company added the ability to order online from their website. For both online and fax orders, customers proceed to the front of the line to pay for pre-ordered food.[163] In 2009, Chipotle released an app for the iPhone that allows users to find nearby Chipotle locations, place an order, and prepay with a credit card.[164] In 2013, Chipotle released an Android app that allows users to locate nearby Chipotle locations, place an order, prepay with a credit or gift card, and access favorites and recent orders.[165][166]

In late 2021, the company added a non-food item to the menu—cilantro soap. According to published reports, the soap sold out the day after its release. The soap was produced after an August 2021 Instagram post of what was thought to be a mock photo of the product. It was an effort to engage fans and haters of the herb that, "plays into a larger trend of turning digital moments into real life experiences," according to Chris Brandt, Chipotle's Chief Marketing Officer.[167]

Food safety

In its annual reports, Chipotle has acknowledged that it "may be at a higher risk for food-borne illness outbreaks than some competitors due to our use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation".[192] Following the 2015 outbreaks, some food safety experts and media commentators argued that the variety of pathogens involved pointed to systemic problems with the company's food handling practices.[193][194] On December 10, 2015, CEO Steve Ells released a statement apologizing for the outbreaks and promised changes to minimize future risks.[195]

Data breach

Lawsuits

In November 2016, three men filed a class-action lawsuit against Chipotle alleging that a burrito was listed as containing only 300 calories, when in fact it contained more. They are seeking "unspecified damages and for an injunction against the company to prevent it from posting what it calls misleading information on its food".[239][240][241]

In January 2020, the company was fined $1.3 million by the state of Massachusetts for 13,000 child labor violations.[242][243][244]

Labor issues and unionization

In May 2019, Chipotle was in the news for having dismissed a manager in St. Paul, Minnesota, who had been falsely accused of racism.[245]

In December 2019, the office of the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Peter Robb, filed a complaint against Chipotle, accusing the company of firing a worker in New York City in retaliation for trying to organize a union, as well as alleging that a manager in Manhattan threatened to fire workers if they engaged in protected union activities, implying they could even face physical violence as a result.[246]

In July 2022, Chipotle closed a store in Augusta, Maine, whose staff was trying to unionize, ostensibly due to staffing difficulties.[247] In November 2022, the NLRB issued a complaint against Chipotle, accusing the company of illegally closing the Augusta store and blackballing the employees at the store in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.[248]

In August 2022, a restaurant in Lansing, Michigan, became the chain's first location to vote to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.[249]

At multiple points in 2022, various outlets highlighted Chipotle as an example of a restaurant chain investing in robotics and automation via Chippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant made by Miso Robotics.[250][251]

Advertising and publicity

In the past, Chipotle mainly relied on billboards, radio advertisements, and word of mouth to advertise.[26] In 2010, the company initiated an ad campaign that mocks advice given to Chipotle by advertising agencies.[252] In 2012, Chipotle aired its first nationally televised commercial during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony.[253] Chipotle has run many promotions giving out free food to potential customers, especially when opening a new store. Stores also give out free burritos on certain holidays; for instance, on Halloween, some locations have had promotions in which free burritos are given to people who come dressed as a burrito.[254]

Chipotle gave away free burritos to reporters during the 1997 trial of Timothy McVeigh, which took place in Chipotle's hometown of Denver.[255] In addition, stores offered free burritos to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.[256] Chipotle received attention when Ozzy Osbourne's reality show The Osbournes featured the company's burritos heavily.[24]

For Halloween 2010, Chipotle announced that customers dressed as a processed food product would receive a burrito for $2. The event was part of a $1 million fundraiser for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution called "Boorito 2010: The Horrors of Processed Food".[257] Also in support of family farms, Chipotle released music videos of Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Willie Nelson.[258]

On September 12, 2013, Chipotle released an animated short called The Scarecrow, with a companion mobile video game; both feature a narrative heavily critical of industrial farming, but little in the way of direct marketing for the chain.[259] The short features a cover of "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, sung by Fiona Apple.[260] It was named one of the worst advertisements of 2013 by The Wall Street Journal.[261]

In 2011, Chipotle created the "Farm Team", which is a rewards program available only by invitation from restaurant managers. The Farm Team members have access to a special Chipotle website, where members can earn rewards, i.e. free food and T-shirts. The site offers members to, "learn where Chipotle's food comes from, take quizzes and polls, play games and watch videos about the company".[262] In April 2014, the Farm Team program was shut down.[263]

Chipotle sponsors Team Garmin-Barracuda (formerly Team Garmin-Chipotle, Team Garmin-Slipstream, Team Garmin-Transitions and Team Garmin-Cervélo) of the International Cycling Union,[264][265] and is an official team partner of the Boston Celtics,[266] and the Boston Bruins.[267] In June 2009, Chipotle sponsored free screenings of Food, Inc., a film that criticizes the corporate food industry. Founder Steve Ells stated that he hoped the film would make customers appreciate Chipotle's Food With Integrity policy.[268] From May until September 2009, Chipotle ran a contest on mychipotle.com, a microsite which had a competition for the best user-created audio and video presentations about different combinations of ingredients.[269][270] In July 2010, Chipotle began a campaign to support healthier lunch alternatives for students, in which money will be donated to The Lunch Box program based on how many spam Emails consumers forward to a company Email address.[271]

In 2014, Chipotle collaborated on a viral marketing campaign with the rock band Spoon, in support of the band's album, They Want My Soul.[272]

For Chipotle's 18th anniversary, the company began wrapping its burritos in gold foil as part of a larger promotion to draw attention to its Food With Integrity mantra.[273] Also as part of the gold foil campaign, Chipotle is offering prizes for customer-created pictures of items wrapped in gold foil. Chipotle hired comedian Amy Sedaris to create a comedic how-to video on wrapping with gold foil, and spread the video using Twitter.[274] In March 2013, Chipotle pulled its sponsorship of a Boy Scouts of America event, citing that organization's ban on LGBT members.[275]

On March 14, 2016, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge concluded that Chipotle's social media policy, and more specifically its application towards an employee who posted tweets regarding wages and working conditions, violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).[276] A former Chipotle employee in Havertown, Pennsylvania, wrote a series of tweets from his personal account about hourly workers being required to work on snow days. Chipotle instructed the employee to delete the tweets. The NLRB judge determined that Chipotle's request to delete the tweets violated the NLRA even though the employee was not disciplined as a result of his tweets.[277]

In July 2021, Chipotle rolled out limited edition gold foil at participating locations to celebrate American athletes competing in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[278] On October 28, 2021, Chipotle announced $1 million of burritos to be given away for free for the first 30,000 people to play the Chipotle experience on the video game Roblox. The site ended up experiencing a three-day outage, but the company clarified that it was not the fault of Chipotle.[279]

On February 16, 2023, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team announced a sponsorship deal with Chipotle. The Chipotle logo will be featured on both the nose and side of the VF-23, race-suits of drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg and team apparel.[280]

Architecture

Architecturally, all Chipotle restaurants are built using most of the same material finishes (plywood, corrugated metal, stainless steel, exposed ductwork), although each store is unique.[15][281] The interiors have been described as having an "industrial, sheet metal look".[282] Chipotle has built restaurants using white ceramic tile instead of stainless steel.[283] It costs the company approximately $850,000 to open a new restaurant.[284] When the first Chipotle opened, Steve Ells asked his friend, sculptor Bruce Gueswel, to design the chairs and a styled Mayan king whose face was loosely based on that of civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr., a personal inspiration of Gueswel, for the restaurant. Both items were made from wood and metal. Gueswel has continued to design and build the art and chairs for all subsequent Chipotle restaurants.[285]

Most Chipotle locations display a photograph of the original restaurant, which is near the University of Denver campus on Evans Avenue.[15] Instead of a photograph of itself, the original location has a photograph of the Dolly Madison Ice Cream that previously occupied the location. In 2010, Chipotle began opening smaller concept locations that have lower costs of development and occupancy.[286]

Chipotle has made arrangements to add solar panels to 75 of its restaurants.[287]

Chipotle was the defendant in a lawsuit for failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Maurizio Antoninetti, a customer who used a wheelchair, claimed he was denied the "Chipotle Experience", because he was unable to see the food preparation. The case against the company was upheld in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear Chipotle's appeal, leaving the Ninth Circuit's ruling intact.[288] Chipotle has "an official disability policy of bringing ingredients to the tables of diners with disabilities and doing tableside preparation." Chipotle is retrofitting restaurants affected by the ruling, replacing the walls in front of the food preparation area with lower ones or transparent panels. They are incorporating the new design elements into new restaurants. The case was one of over twenty ADA-related lawsuits filed by Antoninetti, who died in 2011.[289][290]

Other restaurant units

• Former units

• Farmesa (2023–2024) was a restaurant concept specializing in custom-made bowls. The first location opened in Santa Monica in March 2023, but Chipotle abandoned the concept in April 2024.[70][291]

• Pizzeria Locale (2013–2023) was a fast casual pizza chain formed as a partnership with the original Pizzeria Locale restaurant in Boulder, Colorado.[292] The chain grew to seven locations by 2017, but contracted after closing locations outside Colorado in 2018.[293] Chipotle closed the remaining locations and dissolved the business in July 2023.[294] The original Boulder restaurant, which was not owned by Chipotle, was renamed Pizzeria Alberico.[295]

• Soul Daddy (May–June 2011) was a soul food fast casual restaurant managed by Chipotle. It operated three locations for less than five weeks before closing.[64][296]

• ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen (2011–2017) was an Asian fast-casual concept following the Chipotle service format.[65] The chain grew to 15 locations before all were closed in March 2017.[297]

• Tasty Made (2016–2018) was a burger restaurant concept. The sole location in Lancaster, Ohio, opened in October 2016 and closed in February 2018.[298]

See also

• List of restaurants in Denver

Further reading

External links