Chipotle Founder Developing Asian Fast-Casual Concept?

Steve Ells, CEO and Founder of the wildly successful Chipotle Mexican Grill chain has been anything but silent and behind the scenes lately. With the launch the NBC show America’s Next Great Restaurant starring a host of celebrity personalities alongside Ells is one of four celebrity personalities and investors who will decide which winning restaurant idea they will put their money into.

Apart from the show, an NRN article has revealed Ells possible ideas for opening an Asian fast-casual restaurant utilizing similar pricing, ingredient integrity, and general modeling that has made Chipotle so successful in the past.

While the Chipotle company representatives had no particularly exciting details to divulge about the project, Chris Arnold, a company spokesperson mentioned that the chain would follow Chipotle’s proud montra of “food with integrity“. The report continued to mention Ells’ long standing curiosity about how other genres of food would work following the Chipotle model.

With Chipotle’s strong branding and following in place, an Asian fast-casual concept might be a welcome addition to a market heavily persuaded by Panda Express. What are your thoughts? What type of functionality and ingredients would you want, or expect from a Chipotle-owned Asian restaurant chain? Speak on it!