Chipotle Mexican Grill heads to Mexico to open its 1st location south of the border

Chipotle Mexican Grill is coming to Mexico The California-based chain stated Monday it s planning to open a restaurant in Mexico early next year its first location south of the dividing line in its -year history Chipotle is partnering with Alsea in Mexico City a company that operates Domino s Starbucks Burger King Chili s and other brands in South America and Europe Alsea plans to explore additional expansion in Mexico and other locations in the region Nate Lawton Chipotle s chief business maturation officer disclosed the company is confident that its menu will resonate with Mexican diners The country s familiarity with our ingredients and affinity for fresh food make it an attractive development sector for our company Lawton commented in a comment The expansion arrives as President Donald Trump s tariffs on Mexican imports could increase costs for U S Chipotle locations Last week the U S Commerce Department commented it plans to withdraw from a agreement suspending an antidumping study into fresh tomato imports from Mexico That termination set to take effect July means the majority tomatoes from Mexico will be subject to a tariff Chipotle gets around half of its avocados from Mexico but so far those are not subject to tariffs Chipotle which was founded in Denver in has restaurants and plans to open up to new locations this year It has been focused on growing its international footprint Last year it partnered with Alshaya Group to open a restaurant in Kuwait its first new industry in a decade It now has three restaurants in Kuwait and two in the United Arab Emirates