After years of customer requests, Chipotle announced that it is finally adding queso to its menu — and much like the brand’s beloved guacamole, it is also extra.
The Mexican food chain’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mark Crumpacker, told USA Today that queso will run in it’s NYC test kitchen for about a month following it’s Monday, July 10, debut before moving to multiple locations around the country. However, the businessman warns that the item doesn’t exactly taste like the queso that its competitors serve due to the brand’s dedication to using only natural ingredients. “When you compare it to the more synthetic ones, it’s got a different texture,” he said. “But it’s melted cheese, and that’s what actual cheese tastes like.”
Naturally, it didn’t take long for Twitter users to share their excitement about the new addition.
“Chipotle will now have queso” pic.twitter.com/JHBqVsf6Pw
— J A K E H E R R O N (@jake_herron) July 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/remi_monaghan/status/884490751031353344
PSA for all of you who don’t live in Manhattan – chipotle queso is FIRE
— Bianca Paige (@Acquafreshhh) July 12, 2017
This is how I felt when I heard chipotle has queso now https://t.co/yTV9hgBbXI
— mariah ? (@mariahbrinkman) July 12, 2017
It’s game over as is. Chipotle adding queso is the equivalent to the Warriors adding KD after winning 73. https://t.co/xzfFKbuLTy
— Paris Carter (@pariscarter9) July 10, 2017
According to BuzzFeed, the cheesy dish costs an extra $2.05 for a 4 oz side while an 8 oz side with a large portion of chips rings in at $5.25. The site’s editors deemed the dip “slightly spicy, gritty, and lacked the gooeyness of standard queso, but still — pretty tasty!”
In addition to the new item in the food line, Chipotle’s test kitchen also debuted two kinds of frozen margaritas, one alcoholic and the other non alcoholic.
According to USA Today, the new additions come in an attempt to bring back the chain’s popularity following a 2015 E. coli outbreak, which resulted in a 95 percent profit decline in 2016.
“It’s something that all our competitors have done for many years,” Crumpacker admitted of queso. “And we know it’s one of the reasons people choose to go to other Mexican chains.”
