Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast-casual restaurant chain known for burritos, bowls, tacos and salads built around a simple, Mexican-inspired menu. The brand prepares food in front of guests using a line-style service model that keeps throughput high during peak periods and makes operations relatively straightforward across a large portfolio.

The company was founded in 1993 by chef Steve Ells in Denver, Colorado. Ells opened the first restaurant as a single-unit experiment, combining a limited menu with higher quality ingredients than typical quick-service concepts at the time. That first location significantly exceeded its original sales expectations and proved the model could scale: guests responded to the assembly-line format, visible food preparation and the ability to customize their meals quickly.

Through the late 1990s and early 2000s, Chipotle expanded across the United States, helped in part by an early investment from McDonald’s Corporation, which later exited the business in 2006. That same year, Chipotle completed an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CMG, establishing itself as a standalone public company and one of the early national players in the emerging fast-casual category.

As of December 2024, Chipotle operated approximately 3,726 restaurants. The footprint is heavily concentrated in the United States, with additional locations in Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The company is now preparing for its first entry into Asia, with a joint venture slated to open restaurants in Singapore and South Korea beginning in 2026. This international push reflects a broader shift over the past five years, during which Chipotle has moved from primarily U.S. expansion to a more deliberate global growth posture.

Over the last half decade, Chipotle has also reshaped how its restaurants serve guests. Digital ordering, mobile pickup and delivery have become central to its business, driving both sales growth and new real estate needs. The most visible change is the rise of the “Chipotlane” format, a drive-thru style pickup lane that allows customers to collect digital orders without entering the dining room. These units now account for a growing share of new openings and influence how the chain evaluates sites, circulation and access.

From a property standpoint, Chipotle’s recent development has emphasized freestanding and endcap locations that can accommodate high digital order volumes, strong signage and convenient ingress and egress along major commuter and retail corridors. The brand appears in a wide variety of settings, including neighborhood centers, urban street retail and outparcel pads, and is often viewed as a steady traffic driver with a recognizable national name and consistent buildout.

Chipotle’s scale, public-company backing and ongoing unit growth give it a meaningful presence in many trade areas. The company continues to open hundreds of restaurants per year as of December 2024, signaling a long development runway in North America along with a growing international platform. For landlords, brokers and developers, that combination of brand recognition, evolving formats like Chipotlane and a clear commitment to expansion makes Chipotle a relevant and active tenant across multiple property types.