Attention mankind: Chipotle plans on opening their first burger restaurant. Please remain calm and find the nearest bomb shelter, and await further instruction.
First off, it’s called Better Burger, which may or may not be the most uninspiring restaurant name I’ve ever heard. According to the Seattle Times, Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman, said in that the company’s first Tasty Made burger restaurant will open in this fall in Lancaster, Ohio. Chipotle says the Tasty Made menu will be limited to burger, fries and milkshakes. This is obviously a bizarre and risky move, given the fact that Chipotle is still desperately trying to recuperate customers after the E.coly outbreak from last fall. Despite Chipotle giving away coupons for free burritos and stepping up it’s marketing, sales were still down 24 percent at established locations in the second quarter. Needless to say, this move into burgers is a swing for the fences: they’ll either hit a home run, or go down swingin’.
Surprisingly (seriously surprising, I didn’t know this), this isn’t Chipotle’s first foray into other markets.
Chipotle had noted that it previously said the “Chipotle model” could be applied to a wide variety of foods. Already, the company has an Asian food concept called ShopHouse, which lists 15 locations, and a pizza concept called Pizzeria Locale, which lists five locations.
Needless to say, I’m skeptical of any and all moves Chipotle makes these days, so I’m gonna be staying far away from these burgers.
