Mexican fast-casual Qdoba and Chipotle Mexican Grill continue rapid expansion
/Qdoba Restaurant Corporation, America's No. 2 restaurant brand in the Mexican fast-casual category after Chipotle Mexican Grill, has built a pipeline of more than 500 restaurants to be opened in the future through franchise commitments throughout most areas of the country, according to Jeremy Vitaro, Chief Development Officer at QDOBA.
But even with those commitments, QDOBA continues to seek experienced multi-unit franchisees to develop key markets, including Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville and Tampa, while also expanding in non-traditional venues such as airports, universities, military bases, and casinos.
As the fast casual Mexican food chain continues to expand, total sales sales have increased accordingly but because of brand recognition, so have same store sales. QDOBA achieved a 6.1% comp sales growth in fiscal year 2023, followed by 7.7% comp sales growth in fiscal year 2024. Chipotle’s comp sales increased by 7.4% in 2024, signifying that the fast casual Mexican food category dominated by both restaurant chains continue to perform well.
QDOBA now operates approximately 800 locations in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. However, in the fast casual Mexican category, QDOBA is dwarfed by Chipotle, which has grown through company-owned stores rather than through franchising as is the case with QDOBA.
There are over 3,700 Chipotle restaurants as of December 31, 2024, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. Chipotle is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants in North America and Europe.
Chipotle added more than 300 new restaurants in 2024 and plans to add another 315 to 345 new company-owned restaurant openings in 2025 with over 80% having drive-thru access.