Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle opens second UK site

01-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 15-Mar-2024 at 14:52 GMT

Chipotle opened it's first UK restaurant in Charing Cross in May 2010

US-based Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle is to open its second UK restaurant in London’s Baker Street next week, as it continues to embark on a roll-out strategy across the country.

Chipotle, which operates over 1,100 restaurants in the US, will open its second site on Baker Street, Marylebone on 5 September, serving a menu of burritos, tacos and salads topped or filled with a range of fresh ingredients including coriander-lime rice, pinto beans or vegetarian black beans, grilled chicken or steak marinated in adobo rub, slowly braised pork carnitas and beef barbacoa.

The opening comes around 18 months after Chipotle first landed on UK shores in May 2010, with a restaurant on Charing Cross Road.

Since then the group has hired property agents Michael Peddar & Co to aid its plans for expansion into major UK cities, starting with four or five new sites this year.

Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-chief executive of Chipotle, said: "We continue to think the prospects are very good for Chipotle in London. The food culture there is based on local, sustainable and artisanal foods, which are all core values of Chipotle, and we have been instrumental in bringing this kind of thinking to fast food in the United States – it is one of the ways we are changing the way people think about and eat fast food."

The group, which turns over around $1.8bn (£1.1bn) a year, is committed to serving ‘food with integrity’, only using ingredients from sustainable sources, local and organic produce, naturally raised meat and milk from cows not treated with synthetic hormones.

Chipotle also runs an Asian restaurant concept ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen in Washington D.C.