Chipotle Discontinues Chorizo After Just One Year Of Availability

Photo courtesy of Chipotle

After a little less than a year of restaurant availability, Chipotle is pulling chorizo out of its restaurants. The custom burrito chain told CNBC that the change comes as their new queso replaces the spicy sausage on the line.

Of course, as Chipotle discontinues chorizo, several other reasons have popped up as to why this might be happening. Lackluster sales is one possibility, as chorizo accounted for just three percent of protein sales while in restaurants. One analyst used this metric as a predictor that Chipotle would discontinue the sausage earlier this year.

Another potential reason is that Chipotle likes to focus on a small set of items at a time. Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold confirmed as much to CNBC, saying that “the efficiency of our model has always been rooted in part, in doing just a few things so we can do them really well.” With the addition of queso and the potential release of dessert items like buñuelos, staff will definitely have their hands full on the quality part.

While Chipotle is forgoing their sausage for queso, the new cheese sauce hasn’t been getting the best of reviews. Consumers are hating on it mainly for the texture, which is reportedly extremely gritty. That’s not good news for Chipotle as they try to swap the queso in for chorizo, and has led to a 3% dip in stock price over the past day. We’ll have to keep an eye out to see if this move is really a smart one.