Unlike many of its competitors, Chipotle (CMG) is known for a menu that changes very little over the years. Last March, the fast casual chain launched a new chicken entree for the first time since launching in 1993.
While Chipotle regularly releases ad campaigns in which athletes and influencers create their "ultimate bowl", the number of ways one can combine the different proteins, salsas and sides in a bowl, burrito or taco is somewhat set -- customers who eat at the chain regularly will have tried almost all of them.
DON'T MISS: Chipotle Sets its Sights on Healthier Options
Rather than mess with its familiar offering, Chipotle just announced that it will be launching an entirely new restaurant concept. Starting with just one kitchen in California's Santa Monica, Farmesa Fresh Eatery will have the same build-your-bowl concept but have entrees with more of a "California sustainable" flavor.
Chipotle Spinoff to Focus on California Fresh Bowls and Salads
The entrees served will include Tri-Tip Steak and Everything Spice-Crusted Ora King Salmon while the sides for the bowls include golden beets, sprouted cauliflower and sweet potato chips.
Ranging in price from $11.95 to $16.95, each bowl will come with a protein and green or grain with a choice of two sides and five sauces.
The vision, Chipotle said in a press release, is to tap into customer interest in sustainable meats and grains and promote its "Food With Integrity" standards.
"One of our strategic objectives is to create or invest in emerging culinary spaces and restaurant concepts that fit within Chipotle’s food with integrity mission and make fresh food daily," Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement provided to TheStreet. "Our New Ventures team, which was created in 2022, developed a unique restaurant concept that uses classic culinary techniques with flavorful ingredients in a fast casual setting that we're excited to test and learn on before we determine a broader rollout strategy."
The Santa Monica location is currently testing its launch with a limited menu and shorter hours before fully opening its doors in March.
Chipotle
After a Rocky Few Years, Chipotle Is on an Expansion Path
Since launching out of Denver in 1993, Chipotle has had a lot of ups and downs -- not long after going public in 2006, a food science professor first questioned whether terms like "naturally raised meats" and "organic ingredients" were genuine and could be scaled nationwide while remaining safe for consumers.
A series of high-profile norovirus outbreaks in 2015 caused a public image crisis and a major drop in stock -- working to rebuild its image, the chain parted ways with CEO and founder Steve Ells and cracked down on certain food safety measures that some argued came at the expenses of being able to promise customers "the freshest" meats and vegetables.
By now, the chain has largely come out of these fiascos and has been on an expansion path -- it opened its 3,000th store across the world in 2022 and upped its goals for the next few years from 6,000 to 7,000 locations.
Under Ells' reign, Chipotle has already tested two spinoff concepts called Asian ShopHouse and Tasty Made but was unable to get them to take off -- all of the locations it opened were shuttered for good by 2017.
At $1,647.67, Chipotle stock is up more than 20% since the start of 2023. As news of the restaurant concept dropped today, shares saw a slight bump of just under 1%.
