Chipotle is abandoning its Thai restaurant chain and betting on burgers and pizza instead (CMG)

ShopHouse/Facebook

Chipotle is pulling the plug on its Southeast Asian restaurant chain, ShopHouse, and betting instead on its pizza and burger concepts.

The company said Tuesday that it will not invest further in growing and developing ShopHouse, and will pursue "strategic alternatives" for the chain. 

That means Chipotle will likely shut down or try to sell the ShopHouse chain, which has 15 locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Illinois, and California.

Chipotle will instead focus its efforts on its namesake brand and pizza and burger concepts, Pizzeria Locale and Tasty Made. 

Pizzeria Locale is a build-your-own pizza concept with a very similar setup to Chipotle. There are currently seven locations in four states: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio. 

The first Tasty Made location will open this fall in Lancaster, Ohio. The menu will include burgers, fries, and shakes.

The company said the new restaurant chain will use "high-quality ingredients that are grown and raised with respect for the animals, the land, and the farmers who produce them."

Tasty Made will use beef raised without the use of antibiotics or added hormones and the shakes will be made with "real ingredients" including milk, cream, sugar, and eggs, and the buns for the burgers will be free of preservatives, dough conditioners, and other artificial ingredients.

"Early fast food burger restaurants generally had focused menus," Chipotle founder Steve Ells said in July. "We think there’s great strength in that original fast food model and wanted to create a restaurant built around that. Making only burgers, fries and shakes with really great ingredients, we think we can appeal to peoples’ timeless love of burgers, but in a way that is consistent with our long-term vision."

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