Chipotle unveils a new training center in Columbus, Ohio

June 5, 2025

Article originally published by Nation’s Restaurant News >>
Alicia Kelso, Executive Editor
June 4, 2025

Chipotle has opened a meeting and event space, called The Pepper Training Center, inside of its Restaurant Support Center in Columbus, Ohio.

The training center includes seating for more than 400 people and features a new Cantina. It will be used to host large-scale meetings and company-wide events, including town halls and the organization’s leadership development programs.

Chipotle opened its 130,000-square-foot Columbus office in 2022 in the city’s Arena District downtown, housing about 475 employees across finance, guest and employee relations, development, food safety, legal, people experience, technology, facilities, and operations functions. The Pepper Training Center is located on the second floor of the office.

“At Chipotle, our people are our greatest asset and we’re proud to provide our Columbus team members with a new innovative space to foster greater collaboration,” chief human resources officer Ilene Eskenazi said in a statement.

The new training center comes as Chipotle targets 7,000 North American restaurants, from its current footprint of about 3,700 locations. The company is expecting to open between 315 and 345 restaurants this year.