Chipotle Is Testing a New Menu Item

Chipotle wants to spice up your burrito.

On Tuesday, the burrito chain began testing chorizo in Kansas City, reports The Kansas City Star. The Mexican sausage contains ground chicken and pork, flavored with paprika, cumin, garlic and red wine.

According to The Kansas City Star, chorizo will be available through the city's 33 Chipotle locations starting today.

This is not the first time that Chipotle has tested the protein. In 2011, the chain tested chorizo made with pork and chicken at locations in New York City, as well as one restaurant in Denver.

Chipotle has been able to become a speedy burrito making machine by rarely adding ingredients to the menu. The most recent new protein the chain created was Sofritas, a tofu topping the chain added to the menu last year.

The chorizo test comes at a time when Chipotle is struggling to find supplier for one of its existing proteins: carnitas. In January, Chipotle announced it had been forced to stop serving the topping at about a third of its locations after a pork supplier failed to meet its animal welfare standards. Since then, the company has been rotating which restaurants are affected, gradually increasing its pork supply over the summer with plans to offer carnitas at all locations in the fall. As chorizo requires at least some pork (though it is not, like carnitas, a purely pork-based protein), Chipotle needs to be sure to find suppliers who can reliably supply meat that meets the company's stringent standards if the test is to expand.