Vegan and vegetarian Chipotle fans fret not, the popular restaurant is starting to roll out pork-less pinto beans on a nationwide level.
Chipotle has decided to completely remove bacon from the preparation of pinto beans after it was found that the “bacon was [not] adding appreciably to the flavor”, according to Chipotle Communications Director Chris Arnold. In an email to Her Campus, Arnold said that the decision “had everything to do with the bacon not really impacting on the flavor” and nothing to do with a recent “discovery” of sorts made by a handful of eaters.
The so-called discovery was that while a full list of ingredients used to prepare their items is available online, Chipotle had apparently failed to disclose that pinto beans were made with bacon on the physical menus in the restaurants themselves.
Chipotle isn’t quite done with their menu changes though, and is currently testing out sofritas in a small number of shops in the nation — particularly on the west coast in areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco. “Sofritas is tofu,” Arnold says, “It’s amazing. It’s braised with aromatic spices and herbs.” The introduction of sofritas in even a small number of Chipotle restaurant is a way to appeal to both vegan and vegetarian customers, but Arnold assures that “[It] is delicious enough that it would have crossover appeal as well.”
Unlike their pork-less beans, however, there are no current plans to roll out sofritas nationally. “Right now, sofritas is in testing in a handful of markets,” Arnold tells us, “Though we may add some other markets to the test in the coming months.”
So while carnivores may have more options for the time being, it stands to reason that vegans and vegetarians will eventually receive another healthy, animal-friendly option to fill their burritos and bowls with.