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Will Chipotle's menu variety fly with customers?

June 22, 2018

It didn't take long for Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol to shake things up. The former Taco Bell CEO, who took over the CEO role from Founder Steve Ells in March, announced this week that's he's experimenting with the menu. 

The restaurant, previously known for its purposeful limited menu, is testing five menu items — quesadillas, nachos, chocolate milkshakes, avocado tostadas and an updated salad — at its NEXT test kitchen in Manhattan. If successful, the rest of the nation's units will also offer the additions.

Niccol acknowledged, however, that since the chain's assembly line isn't set up for variety, adding the items could backfire if the offerings come at the expense of slower service. 

"We're not built right now to make a great quesadilla," he said in an interview with the NY Times. "The worst-case scenario is the person in front of you orders a quesadilla. That will slow you down. We want to fix that."