The “slop bowl” battles are heating up in the international market, with Chipotle announcing this week that it will expand into Singapore and South Korea.
New Chipotle restaurants will open in the countries in 2026, the company’s first foray into Asian markets, as part of a partnership with SPC Group, a leading South Korean-based food company.
“Both markets have large, fast-growing out-of-home dining cultures that prioritize real food, and consumers are highly familiar with American brands like Chipotle through education, travel, and social media conversations among relevant celebrities,” a Chipotle spokesperson told Business Insider about the expansion. “Operationally, the dense urban footprints of major Korean cities and Singapore also make them very manageable markets to enter.”
The South Korean and Singaporean restaurants will closely mirror the look and feel of Chipotle’s restaurants in the US, with an open kitchen format and the same full core menu offerings that American consumers are accustomed to, the spokesperson said.
Chipotle operates 3,800 restaurants in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. It plans to open as many as 345 new restaurants this year, with a long-term target of operating 7,000 locations in the US and Canada, according to a press release about the expansion.
The new Chipotle locations will compete directly with the Australian-owned fast-casual Mexican chain, Guzman y Gomez, which went public last year. Guzman y Gomez has a prominent presence in Singapore and has plans to expand to 1,000 outlets in Australia over the next 20 years, Business Insider previously reported.
Chipotle isn’t the only fast-casual Mexican chain expanding into Asia. In July, GoTo Foods announced it would open new Moe’s Casa Mexicana restaurants in India, a reimagining of its Moe’s Southwest Grill concept.
