This is indisputably an excellent summer to be a bacon fan. In June, we were all collectively gifted with the temporary offering of Panera's Bacon Mac & Cheese, and then blessed when Panera added it to the permanent menu. Hopefully, this thrilling bacon narrative will repeat itself, because Chipotle is testing BLT quesadillas, Bacon Bowls, nachos, and a new drink-and-taco bundle deal in several markets in the U.S.
In a press release on August 9, Chipotle explained that after testing bacon options at Chipotle's NEXT kitchen in New York City, the response was so enthusiastic that the company decided to roll out the offering to more customers. The plan right now is to see how well they perform before considering — be still my guac-guzzling heart — a full nationwide rollout of the two items. As of right now, the BLT quesadilla is only available at the NYC-based NEXT Kitchen; but Chipotle will be extending bacon options, which are made with Applewood Smoked Bacon (!!), to eight restaurants in Orange County, Calif. in September.
"Consumers have always said 'everything tastes better with bacon' and that is exactly what we confirmed in our New York test kitchen," said Chipotle's chief marketing officer, Chris Brandt, in a statement. "We found consumers added bacon to their traditional bowls, burritos, tacos and nachos while also enjoying new items such as the BLT quesadilla with bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese grilled to perfection."
Behold, an image of the Chipotle Bacon Bowl in all of its majestic, meat-filled glory.
Basically, if you live in California or New York City, your bacon-bound duties are clear: get ye to a Chipotle, sing that bacon's praises, and then do whatever it is we need to do to appease the Chipotle gods to make a nationwide rollout happen, STAT.
In addition to its bacon options, Chipotle announced in its press release that come October, it will be extending the nachos option that has been testing at the NYC NEXT Kitchen to full-market tests in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul. And if you don't happen to be in any of those market tests, good news for people living in Miami and Dallas, to: Chipotle will give anyone who buys a drink at Chipotle after 8 p.m. a two-dollar taco. It's never been a better time to be young and alive and in constant need of consuming tacos, y'all.
"A cornerstone of our new strategy is to make Chipotle more culturally relevant and to meet our customers where they are with flavorful food they can feel good about eating," said Brandt in the press release. "We know that Chipotle is a great place to start or end the night, which is why we're excited to test this pilot with our Miami and Dallas night owl fans."
Basically, there's a coast-to-coast Chipotle party in the U.S.A right now — but I'm not going to lie, those bacon options are basically the ringleader of this entirely Chipotle parade. Fingers and bacon strips crossed, y'all!
