Chipotle Does A Queso Trial Run And We’re Jumping

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Brace yourselves, Chipotle is introducing queso to its menu. The exciting addition and beloved Mexican appetizer made of melted cheese and chili pepper comes with the creation of the Chipotle NEXT Kitchen by the company’s CEO Steve Ells and Head of Marketing Mark Crumpacker. This will be the company’s only public-facing test kitchen, located in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. It’ll serve Chipotle’s newest creations and test new ordering technology. Unfortunately, the queso is only currently available at the test kitchen.

The queso news may or may not be a surprise to you, depending on your level of commitment to Chipotle, but fans have been begging for queso for quite some time. In fact, Chipotle’s lack of queso might be the reason for customer loyalty to other Mexican food chains.

According to Eater, Ells said in an internal memo sent to all of the company’s employees, “Because we refuse to use industrial additives, added colors, flavors or preservatives in our food, it’s very difficult to make queso that meets our standards.” Well, It looks like they finally found the answer. You can get the queso on the side, with an entree or with chips.

This reveal is part of a larger $50 million marking plan toward the future of the company. The test kitchen also has new equipment, like a frozen margarita machine, that’ll make serving drinks more efficient. There will also be a new rice cooker that’ll allow smaller batches to be made on more regular basis.

COME AND GET IT.