Chipotle Mexican Grill Is Launching a New Restaurant Chain: What We Know So Far

With about 3,200 locations, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) is one of the largest restaurant companies in the world and may be the world's largest purveyor of burritos. But it's about to branch out. On Feb. 15, Chipotle announced it's launching a new restaurant chain called Farmesa Fresh Eatery, specializing in customizable bowls of greens, grains, vegetables, and proteins.

This news may evoke mixed emotions from long-term Chipotle shareholders who might remember that Chipotle has experimented with developing new restaurant chains in the past but failed, robbing the company of time, focus, and resources. However, there's good reason to look past earlier failures and embrace Chipotle's latest experiment. Let's see why.

At the end of 2011, Chipotle had just 1,230 locations. But during that year, it opened its first ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen location, a concept developed entirely in-house. Then in 2013, Chipotle invested in a start-up pizza company called Pizzeria Locale. And in 2016, it opened a burger restaurant called Tasty Made.

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Source Fool.com