Thousands lined up on Commonwealth Avenue Thursday to nab burritos from Chipotle Mexican Grill to celebrate the opening of its new West Campus location.
Chipotle, a quick-service Mexican food chain known for its fresh burritos, tacos and salads, has 900 locations nationwide. The new Chipotle is the 20th location to open in the metro-Boston area.
“It’s a no-brainer location for us,” said Chipotle’s marketing coordinator for New England Caitlin Leibert. “[Boston University] students are totally our crowd. They understand our brand and they respect the integrity of it.”
The first one hundred customers to purchase a burrito, taco, bowl or salad after 3:00 p.m. during Friday’s grand opening received a free t-shirt and a free burrito card to use at a later visit.
Customers could enter to win free burritos for a year with a stack of 52 free burrito cards, ideally to be used once per week.
The Chipotle held a free burrito day on Thursday in honor of the following day’s grand opening. Between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., anyone to enter the restaurant was given one free burrito and a soft drink &- no purchase necessary.
“It was a great way for us to kick off our opening with a kind of pre-opening party to welcome ourselves to the neighborhood,” Leibert said.
The restaurant gave out approximately 2,250 burritos that day, she said.
Leibert said the long line of people waiting to receive free burritos remained outside throughout the day.
“They’re all troopers,” she said. “It was cold, and we did our best to entertain them.”
Means of entertainment included a foil design contest, where sheets of aluminum foil were distributed and participants were given five minutes to create an original design.
People waiting in line also received Chipotle memorabilia, including T-shirts, pens, iPhone cases and magnets.
This Chipotle, along with all other New England Chipotle locations, is included in the 65 percent of all Chipotle locations nationwide that serve naturally raised beef and dairy products free of growth hormones.
This is part of the chain’s Food with Integrity (FWI) philosophy, a dedication to use all-natural and sustainably farmed ingredients, started by chairman and co-CEO Steve Ells, according to Chipotle’s website.
Students were happy with the new convenient location.
“It’s great to finally have a Chipotle here at BU,” said College of Arts and Sciences junior Rudy Wong.
The Chipotle location near Fenway Park, previously the closest Chipotle for BU students, was always too far away, she said.
James Batchelder, a sophomore at the College of General Studies, said he will enjoy the convenience of having a Chipotle so close to the CGS building.
“Basically, my life’s gotten so much better since there’s been a Chipotle here,” he said. “It’s exciting.”
Other students said they were excited for Chipotle because it’s the best Mexican food in the area.
“It is hard to find good Mexican food up in Boston,” said School of Management sophomore Natalie Zurawin.
Zurawin, a Texas native, said she is used to the Southwestern cuisine, known as Tex-Mex, served back home.
“This is the closest thing that you can get,” she said.
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