Chipotle, a rapidly expanding Mexican restaurant chain, is eyeing a new location in Shelton, city officials said.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to vote Feb. 10 on an application to put a new store for the popular, Colorado-based eatery in a Bridgeport Avenue shopping plaza, between the Plaza Diner and the Hampton Inn.
The restaurant would occupy a new, 2,400-square-foot freestanding building in the Sears Retail Plaza at 705 – 711 Bridgeport Ave.
Plans call for patio seating outside the restaurant, on the northeast corner of the property.
The location will not have a drive-thru window or serve alcohol.
The chain has been expanding aggressively in the area in recent years, and has acquired something of a cult following among 20- and 30-somethings with disposable incomes.
The company trumpets its “Food With Integrity“ policy of selling “sustainably raised food” that includes organic and local produce “when practical.”
Article continues after video of the popular New Haven-based Internet food critic Daym Drops sampling one of the company’s burrito bowls.
Dominick Thomas, a Derby lawyer who represented the property’s owners at a Shelton planning and zoning hearing on the proposal last week, declined to comment on the plans Wednesday (Jan. 21).
The Valley Indy also left messages with Chipotle officials.
In general, the company’s website says, Chipotle looks to put new stores in locations “urban and suburban with strong residential and daytime population.”
Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton certainly meets that criterion, with thousands of workers populating the nearby Scinto office buildings and many other Bridgeport Avenue businesses during the day, and a citywide populating of 40,000 or so residents to pick up the slack at night.
The demographics mean the Bridgeport Avenue commercial corridor is a hotbed of activity for retail businesses looking to broaden their reach as the Colorado-based Chipotle chain is in the process of a nationwide expansion.
A blog post last July on the Motley Fool, an investing website, called the publicly-traded company “the top growth story in the industry,” with robust earnings numbers to prove it.
“The most impressive aspect of Chipotle’s growth story is perhaps that it shows no signs of stopping any time soon, even though the company already has a rather large domestic presence,” the article noted.
In Connecticut, Chipotle has already opened locations in Milford, New Haven, Fairfield, Hamden, Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, Newington, West Hartford, and Glastonbury.
A Bridgeport location is also in the works.
The company is also trying to broaden its reach beyond Mexican fare with “Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen” and “Pizzeria Locale” brands.
Since opening with a single restaurant in 1993, the company now operates more than 1,700 restaurants, including 17 outside the United States.
After announcing a year-over-year revenue surge of more than 30 percent during an earnings call in October, the company said it plans to open between 190 and 205 new locations in 2015.
