News

Queso oozes onto Chipotle menus nationwide

September 5, 2017

After testing its queso at its Next Kitchen in New York City and then at 350 units in Southern California and Colorado, Chipotle Mexican Grill will roll the new item out nationwide on Sept 12.

"Although queso was the number one requested menu item, we never added it to our menu before now because we wouldn't use the industrial additives used in most quesos," Steve Ells, founder, chairman and CEO at Chipotle, said in a company press release. "Additives make typical queso very consistent and predictable, but are not at all in keeping with our food culture.

"Our queso may vary slightly depending on the characteristics of the aged cheddar cheese used in each batch, but using only real ingredients is what makes our food so delicious."

The complex and slightly spicy flavor of Chipotle's queso comes from the combination of simple ingredients customers can recognize, such as aged cheddar cheese, tomatillos, tomatoes and several varieties of peppers, Ells said.

Throughout the testing phase, Chipotle was able to gain customer feedback, tweak the recipe and ingredient proportions slightly, and arrive at the final recipe — a combination that has proved very popular with customers, according to the release.

Customers can order queso on their entree or on the side in two sizes with chips. Prices vary slightly by city but range from $1.25 to add it to an entree, to $5.25 for a large side order.