How Many Countries Have A Chipotle Location?
Chipotle is one of the greatest success stories in the fast food industry of the past decade. A 2024 report from Technomic, covered in Nation's Restaurant News, ranked Chipotle as the ninth biggest restaurant chain in America, with over 3,300 locations across the country at the end of 2023. However, despite the announcement that the chain is opening its first locations in the Middle East, it still doesn't have a huge international footprint. As of this writing, the company operates or plans to operate in six countries: the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and now Kuwait. Chipotle is using the new Kuwait location as a test market for new business innovations, such as restaurant formats and digital ordering advancements.
What's even more surprising is that even though Chipotle is a big presence in America, it only has 68 units in those other five countries. In a unique move for a major restaurant chain, the brand's European and Canadian locations are not franchises. However, the new locations in Kuwait will be operated in partnership with the Alshaya Group, a major player in the Middle East. And while it may feel like there's a Chipotle in every mall and on every street corner in the U.S., it's not currently the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the country. That honor, as of 2022, belongs to Jersey Mike's.
The brand's slow growth outside of America
If its Canadian operations are any indication, Chipotle prefers to slowly roll out into other countries as it monitors potential growth trends. Canada is currently the chain's largest non-American market, where it operates 41 restaurants. The country's first Chipotle opened in Toronto, Ontario in 2008 and was the chain's first non-U.S. location. The brand added more stores to the city and also opened some in London, Ottawa and Vancouver. Canadian locations grew to 23 in total — and then the company waited three years, from 2018 to 2021, to expand further. Chipotle Canada managing director Anat Davidzon noted to the Toronto Star in 2023 that the pause gave it time to ensure it was increasing its presence in Canada smartly. Davidzon said, "At that time, the Canadian market had not seen the same financial performance that we saw in the U.S."
Chipotle's next-biggest overseas market is the United Kingdom, which boasts 19 stores. The chain also owns and operates six locations in France, including a stunning three-story restaurant in Paris, and two in Germany. After working with Alshaya Group for about a year to develop the first Kuwait location, Chipotle intends to open a total of four restaurants in the Middle East by the end of 2024, including the first in Dubai. In keeping with the brand's slow and steady extension, the Kuwait Chipotle is its first to open in a new country in over 10 years.
Chipotle's methods of international innovation
The latest international Chipotle location in Kuwait will feature several new elements for the chain, including new wood floors and artistic design flourishes from the ceilings to the walls. Customers will be able to order and customize food either through the restaurant's classic makeline at self-serve kiosks or by scanning an in-restaurant QR code that leads to a Middle East-exclusive mobile app. Quesadillas will be available on the menu but must be ordered via the app or kiosk, presumably to encourage adoption of the new ordering methods.
The Kuwait Chipotle's new innovations were likely developed with the aid of the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, California. The property operates as a test kitchen and a creative studio for design elements. Perhaps you've heard of Chippy, Chipotle's AI-powered tortilla chip-making robot — though it's unclear if that experiment has moved past one location in Fountain Valley, California. The brand's cauliflower rice was also first developed at the Cultivate Center and brought to Canadian and American restaurants as a limited-time item in early 2021.
Perhaps encouraged by its Middle Eastern partnership, Chipotle recently created a business development group with the intent of exploring further creative international opportunities. Enterprising developers are prompted to submit a form on Chipotle's website outlining any overseas business proposals. All in all, Chipotle's cautious international rollout seems to be paying dividends for the company. However, if overseas menus are any indication, anywhere you go, you'll still have to pay extra for guac.