Chipotle Mexican Grill’s first foray into burgers was a flop.
The Denver-based chain has closed the restaurant Tasty Made, which it had opened in October 2016 to try to extend its menu reach. The sole location was in Lancaster, Ohio.
This past September, Chipotle hired Richard Blais, winner of Bravo television’s “Top Chef All-Stars” and a James Beard-nominated cookbook author, to helm the trial restaurant and fine-tune Tasty Made’s menu.
The restaurant sold burgers made from fresh beef, in-house hand-cut fries, sodas and five-ingredient shakes. Its last day was Wednesday.
“While we liked the concept and the delicious food at Tasty Made, the economics were not what we wanted them to be in Lancaster, Ohio, so we have decided to close that restaurant,” Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said in an e-mail.
If the chain ventures back into burgers, it might make a new, high-powered friend. When Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett was asked at CNBC on Monday if he eats at Taco Bell or Chipotle, he answered, “When they start serving hamburgers, I’ll give you an opinion.”
Chipotle has suffered from bad publicity over food safety, including a multi-state E. coli outbreak in 2015, a norovirus outbreak, rodent sightings and reports of ill workers and customers last year. In 2017, it faced criticism from customers who were disappointed by how the chain’s much-anticipated queso tasted. Chipotle then reworked its recipe for the spicy cheese sauce.
The company is trying to turn things around. Former Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol becomes Chipotle’s new CEO on Monday, replacing founder Steve Ells.
Chipotle’s profits during the fourth quarter of 2017 reached $43.8 million, compared with $16 million during the same period the year before. The chain has also unveiled plans to open 130-150 new restaurants next year and spend $50 million on the interiors of existing ones.
Chipotle chose Lancaster, Ohio, for the debut restaurant, because one of its executives, David Chrisman, is from neighboring Carroll, Ohio. He said the company had originally wanted to open the first restaurant in Columbus.
From the start, Tasty Made received much criticism on social media about the quality of its food. Chipotle had planned to open a location in nearby Pickerington, Ohio, just after the initial opening, but that plan never materialized.
The company has invited the approximately 30 Tasty Made employees to apply for jobs at Chipotle.
