Here's What's Stopping Chipotle From Selling Breakfast Burritos

In 2023, Chipotle celebrated 30 years in the business. From its humble roots as a burrito shop on the outskirts of the University of Denver campus to an enormous national chain with over 3,400 locations – the fast-casual Mexican restaurant has been a staple for those craving a quick and filling burrito meal. But one thing you're not likely to see on the menu, not even on the secret one, is a breakfast burrito.

Despite fast-food breakfast options increasing in popularity (and profitability), Chipotle will be staying away from the category mostly because they don't want to mess with a good thing. According to Chipotle's CEO, Brian Niccol, Chipotle will continue focusing on lunch and dinner while streamlining its digital capabilities, but adding breakfast burritos is not in the cards. Niccol told CNN that the difficulties of launching breakfast offerings, namely the expense of getting a whole third meal up and running, wasn't worth it when their chicken, steak, carnitas, and barbacoa offerings were doing so well. 

In addition to the millions it'd cost to have the staff, ingredient, and prep capabilities that offering breakfast would entail, one Redditor pointed out that to serve breakfast, Chipotle employees would have to show up even earlier than their current 7 a.m. start time. Another alleged employee pointed out that they already struggle to keep up with the demand of having fresh ingredients prepared and ready to go. Adding breakfast would overload the whole system, which isn't worth the profit.

For those particularly desperate for a Chipotle breakfast option, there is an opportunity to give the concept a whirl. You just have to head to Dulles, Virginia, a small city outside of Washington D.C., where, according to Brian Niccol, the Dulles International Airport Chipotle location sells breakfast burritos. Their menu has two options: an egg and cheese breakfast burrito and an egg and chorizo burrito. Niccol says the reason they serve breakfast burritos in this one, seemingly random, location is because it's a required part of their contract. In a very diplomatic, CEO-like way, Niccol told CNN that he will never say never when it comes to offering breakfast burritos, but it's a definite "not for right now" kind of situation.

Although making your own breakfast burritos at home isn't quite as convenient and satisfying as grabbing one on the road, the nice thing is it's a relatively simple dish to execute. Which means you can bust those cravings in a matter of minutes. We recommend adding some crispy tots and chorizo to your breakfast burrito to give your starch an extra satisfying texture. Who knows, maybe it'll inspire you to launch your own little burrito stand-turned-national fast-food chain.