Chipotle Mexican Grill is bringing queso to 100 restaurants in metro Denver and 350 in the Los Angeles market on Aug. 1, the company’s chief marketing officer Mark Crumpacker announced Tuesday during a conference call with analysts.
“We’re going to put it in a couple markets and test it, and I think we’re going to be happy with the results,” Crumpacker said.
The Denver-based fast-casual chain hinted that it was getting into the liquid-cheese game earlier this month, confirming rumors racing through social media with a five-word tweet: “Confirmed. We are testing queso.”
Depending on how the broader test works, the new item could hit menus nationwide by mid-September, Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said.
It’s a quick debut for a restaurant chain that rarely changes its menu. Chief financial officer Jack Hartung said there is an ulterior motive: The company hopes the buzz around queso will help guide the company’s marketing narrative away from a foodborne illness outbreak in Virginia.
“We continue to face significant challenges as we work to restore trust,” Hartung said.
The new menu item was developed at Chipotle’s NEXT Kitchen restaurant in New York, a location that tests new items, recipes, ingredients and cooking techniques.
Queso is the most requested item that is not on the Chipotle menu, according to several top executives. The company began testing it at their NEXT kitchen last month.
Arnold said the company avoided it for a long time because most queso is made with artificial or processed ingredients, something Chipotle strictly avoids.
Chipotle’s Genuine Queso is made with real, all natural ingredients and is a blend of cheddar cheese with tomatillos and chiles, Arnold said. It has a slight smoky flavor from adobo and is mildly spicy. Customers can order Genuine Queso on their entrée, on the side, or as part of two sizes of Queso & Chips side.
“We’re talking about one menu item, but we shouldn’t underestimate how much power it has,” Crumpacker said. “It will really add a lot of momentum.”
Chipotle executives said they hope that queso will be a unifying product for their customers — whether they are lapsed, new or infrequent visitors.
The last big menu change Chipotle made was the addition of chorizo last summer. The spicy sausage was tested in five markets, including Denver, before it was rolled out chainwide in October.
The NEXT kitchen also is testing a new mix of salad greens, an avocado-citrus vinaigrette, a bunuelo dessert and new margaritas.
There was no word from executives as to whether the other items would make the cut to be tested in the Denver and L.A. markets along with Chipotle, but Crumpacker said the company is “well positioned” to try new things.
