Chipotle Unveils California-Inspired Eatery

Chipotle Mexican Grill (Newport Beach, Calif.) is opening a new restaurant concept called Farmesa at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. Chipotle describes Farmesa as “a fresh, bold concept featuring delicious proteins, greens, grains and vegetables that are inspired by Chipotle’s food-with-integrity standards.”

“One of our strategic objectives is to create or invest in emerging culinary spaces and restaurant concepts that fit within Chipotle’s food with integrity mission and make fresh food daily,” Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO, said in a news release. “Our New Ventures team, which was created in 2022, developed a unique restaurant concept that uses classic culinary techniques with flavorful ingredients in a fast casual setting that we’re excited to test and learn on before we determine a broader rollout strategy.”

The use of fresh ingredients permeates the Farmesa menu, which was curated by James Beard Award-winning Chef Nate Appleman, who also serves as the Director of Culinary Innovation at Farmesa and previously led menu innovations for Chipotle in the mid to late 2000s.

The concept’s launch involves the use of a so-called “ghost kitchen.” Guests place orders via onsite kiosks at the Kitchen United Mix space at 1315 3rd St., on kitchenunited.com/santamonica, and for pickup and delivery through marketplace apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats.

“Launching Farmesa in the Kitchen United Mix food hall in Santa Monica and joining with third-party partners for pickup or delivery will allow us to reach a large number of consumers, learn quickly and evolve our concept and menu so that we can deliver on our goals before expanding,” said Nate Lawton, VP of New Ventures at Chipotle.