Students began gathering outside Chipotle Mexican Grill on Marshall Street at least a half-hour before the restaurant officially opened for the first time Tuesday.

‘We have had a line to the door all day,’ said manager Josh Freeman. ‘Now we just have to keep up with all of the orders.’

But the line moved quickly, and Chipotle processed between 110 and 120 orders per hour, Freeman said. Later in the day, at 7 p.m., every seat was taken, and the line began to snake its way out the door.

Chipotle opened its doors for the first time on Marshall at 11 a.m. Tuesday, making for the second Chipotle in the area. The other location opened in October on Erie Boulevard in DeWitt, N.Y. Chipotle has taken the place of King David’s Restaurant on Marshall after the Syracuse Common Council unanimously approved Chipotle’s proposal on Nov. 8.

Chipotle’s Marshall location will now be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The menu consists of burritos, tacos and quesadillas, along with other Mexican foods. The restaurant employs many students and is still hiring, Freeman said.

The restaurant filled with a buzz during the day as a constant flow of customers chatted and listened to mariachi and alternative rock music playing on the sound system. Greg Shillinglaw, a junior broadcast journalism major, and Stacy McDonald, a junior accounting and finance major, came to Chipotle for the long-awaited opening.

‘I love Chipotle, but I’m all about the burrito bowl,’ Shillinglaw said. ‘Plus now I don’t have to go all the way to Erie to get one.’

The Erie location is about five miles away from the Marshall restaurant. Kevin Gick, who is in charge of marketing for Chipotle in the area, said he does not think the two locations will take business away from each other.

‘There is a big enough gap between the stores for them both to be successful,’ Gick said. ‘But we are very happy to be on Marshall Street.’

Gick said he thought the new location would be convenient for students. Not all students were able to make it to the Erie location, and some — like Diane Kort, a freshman in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management — are thankful Chipotle has opened a restaurant closer to campus.

‘I really like Chipotle, but I have never been to the other store,’ Kort said. ‘I think a lot of students are like me and wanted to go, but didn’t have a car.’

Crickett Karson, public relations representative for Chipotle, said the goal the company has for its newest location is simple.

‘We don’t have any set numbers we are trying to achieve,’ Karson said. ‘We just want our customers to enjoy a really good burrito.’

ndgallag@syr.edu

Published on April 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm