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 declared Monday it s planning to open a restaurant in Mexico early next year its first location south of the limit 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 advancement officer mentioned 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 advance realm for our company Lawton noted 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 declared it plans to withdraw from a agreement suspending an antidumping review into fresh tomato imports from Mexico That termination set to take effect July means the bulk 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 sector in a decade It now has three restaurants in Kuwait and two in the United Arab Emirates