McDonald's to offer a stake in Chipotle

By Matt Wood in Food on Sep 22, 2005 2:33PM

Wait, Chicagoist is confused...don't they already serve steak at Chipotle? What have we been eating all these years, horse meat/mostly filler? Ohhhhhh, STAKE. We get it. That's a relief, because occasionally we get a little crunchy thing in our burrito that kinda concerns us.

McDonald's is actually offering an IPO for Chipotle, everyone's favorite place to eat burritos before midnight. Does it make you feel creepy to know that Mickey D's owns 90% of Chipotle? Do you feel duped by their propaganda about all natural ingredients and supporting local farmers now that you know the maker of Chicken McNuggets runs them? It bothered Chicagoist at first too, but those black beans and cilantro rice have a sedative effect that makes us forget just about everything for a half hour after we shovel them down our gullets.

While we're sharing fun facts about McDonald's, did you know that they are one of the largest owners of real estate in the country? Or that each floor at their corporate headquarters has a soda fountain that employees can use for free? Chicagoist once worked a consulting gig there and also discovered, sadly, that the Fry Guys do not in fact come around the office to top off your coffee. But we did enjoy the many impressionist paintings of hamburgers and Mayor McCheese hanging around the building.

The company won't release details on the IPO until October, but analysts presume they will use the funds to expand Chipotle's business. Chicagoist already goes out of our way to find a Chipotle for lunch, so whether McDonald's owns them or not, any move to expand their business is good news to us.