Dive Brief:

• Chipotle is no longer pursuing the development of Farmesa Fresh Eatery, a Chipotle spokesperson wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive Thursday.
• The chain said it will incorporate learnings from the concept in future culinary innovation at Chipotle. The company did not explain why it decided to end the concept.
• Chipotle originally tested Farmesa last year within a Kitchen United Mix food hall in Southern California, later moving it into its Cultivate Center in Irvine, California, according to Restaurant Business.

Dive Insight:

CEO Brian Niccol said during Chipotle’s earnings call on Wednesday that a second concept was no longer part of the company’s growth strategy. 

“Right now we are much more focused on just turning Chipotle into an iconic brand that I think it can be, not just in the U.S., but outside the U.S.,” Niccol said. “Obviously, if the opportunity presents itself, where it would make sense for us to do something outside of the brand, so I never want to say never, but it’s just not a focus area for us right now.”

Chipotle has instead been focusing on improving throughput in its restaurants, which has helped bolster traffic and same-store sales. The chain is also planning on building between 285 and 315 restaurant this year, over 80% of which will include a Chipotlane.

During Q1, the company opened 47 units, with 43 including a Chipotlane, Niccol said during the earnings call. The chain has also been pushing into new countries, opening its first restaurant in the Middle East earlier this month. Chipotle is planning further development in Europe and Canada, as well, he said. 

Farmesa Fresh Eatery was originally focused on bowls with a protein, greens or grain, two sides and a choice of five sauces and a topping. Ingredients on the menu included steak, salmon, whipped potatoes, beets, cauliflower and sweet potato chips. It is one of a handful of spinoff concepts Chipotle has attempted but ultimately shuttered. In 2017, Chipotle closed all 15 locations for its ShopHouse Asian Kitchen restaurants after opening the first of these concepts in 2011. In 2016, it tried a burger concept, Tasty Made, but closed its sole location in Lancaster, Ohio, in 2018.  

Chipotle isn’t the only chain to abandon a secondary concept it tested. IHOP closed its fast casual Flip’d by IHOP concept last year after growing it to four locations. That concept was meant to provide a way for IHOP to reach into more urban environments where a traditional IHOP wouldn’t fit.