Chipotle Drive-Thru Planned For Old Wheaton Macaroni Grill Site

WHEATON, IL — A new fast casual drive-thru Chipotle concept restaurant will provide local residents a new way to get their burrito fix after the Wheaton City Council approved a project this week that will move the eatery into the former Romano’s Macaroni Grill location at Blanchard Circle.

The redevelopment of the site was approved by the City Council more than five years after the Macaroni Grill was damaged by a fire in 2016. Now, after the property has sat vacant since the fire, Chipotle is scheduled to take over a portion of a 5,900 square foot storefront that will be part of the new space once the old building is demolished, officials said this week.

The new Chipotle location will feature a “Chipotlane” in which customers are able to pick up their food they ordered ahead rather than ordering like they would in a traditional drive-thru location. Customers will also have the option to order inside the space, which will be located at 21 Blanchard Circle where it intersects with Naperville Road.

The Chipotle will use up about 2,400 square feet of the space with a yet-to-be determined retail business using the remaining 3,500 square feet. A second 10,500 square foot nursery school will use the second storefront location, according to documents outlining the project. The nursery school is scheduled to include nine classrooms and would employ 26 staff members, according to documents provided by city officials.

Chipotle is scheduled to move an existing restaurant from a strip mall on Butterfield Road to the new location, the Daily Herald reported this week. Developer Steve Panko told city officials on Monday that Chipotle is expected to move into the new location on Blanchard Circle sometime in 2022.

A Chipotle spokesperson said that the chain began introducing the Chipotlane concept in 2019 as a way of speeding up the amount of time customers spent picking up food. The concept also encourages customers to order online or through a mobile app versus ordering once they reach the restaurant and waiting for their food to be prepared.

Panko told the city officials that the average wait time for an order would be a minute or less, the Daily Herald reported.

The Chipotle spokesperson said that there are currently 170 Chipotlane locations around the country and that the majority of new Chipotle locations built this year will include the drive-thru feature.