Chipotle eyes Irwin as 1st Pa. site of its Habanero concept restaurant

A nationwide Mexican food chain is planning to make Irwin the first site in Pennsylvania of its newest prototype restaurant.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. plans to build its Habanero model restaurant at the site of the Denny’s restaurant along Route 30, said Bill Zuccarello, construction manager for Chipotle. The proposed site at 9174 Route 30 is about a half-mile west of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Irwin exit.

The Irwin Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the land development plan presented by Chipotle and Bohler, a Pittsburgh-based engineering firm.

Irwin council could vote on the land development plan at its January meeting, contingent on Chipotle meeting all requirements from PennDOT and from the Westmoreland Conservation District for its stormwater management plan.

The Habanero model will have a pick-up line inside the store for online orders, as well as an exterior pick-up lane for online orders, Zuccarello said. It is expected to employ about 30 people.

There also will be seating inside, as at other Chipotles.

The multi-million dollar new model — the nearest is in Steubenville, Ohio — is different than older Chipotles in terms of its exterior and interior, Zuccarello said. It will have more wood in the inside design and the kitchen will have more efficient equipment, he said.

The existing Denny’s would be demolished.

The new restaurant will be slightly more than half of the size of the Denny’s restaurant, Zuccarello said.

The restaurant will be surrounded by less impervious asphalt as at the Denny’s restaurant, said Caterina Pagano, an engineer with Bohler. There also will be more landscaping, Pagano said.

“We are currently scheduled to open a new location in Irwin next year,” is the only detail about the project that Annie Gradinger, a spokeswoman for Chipotle Mexican Grill of Newport Beach, Calif., would release Monday.

Depending upon when Chipotle obtains necessary approvals, the company could start site preparation in February and have the restaurant open in fall 2026, Pagano said.

Chipotle’s practice is to sign a ground lease for the property it occupies, but not acquire the real estate, Zuccarello said. Betty G. Ratner owns the Irwin property as the trustee. The company lists a Penn Hills motel as its business address, according to documents filed with the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds.

Zuccarello said Chipotle also is looking at a site along the eastbound lanes of Route 30 in Unity, where extensive site preparation for retail stores has been ongoing for the past few months.

Denny’s restructuring

The proposed change in the property from a Denny’s restaurant to a Chipotle comes at a time when the Denny’s franchise is undergoing a restructuring and is being purchased by private equity investment firms.

Denny’s announced last month it reached an agreement on a $620 million deal to be acquired by three private equity investment firms — TriArtisan Capital Advisors LLC, which owns the P.F. Chang’s and TGI Friday’s restaurant chains; Treville Capital Group and Yadav Enterprises, which owns Denny’s franchises.

Denny’s said it expects the sale to be finalized in the first quarter of next year.

The company also has been closing what it has termed underperforming restaurants, with a goal of eliminating 150 restaurants from a portfolio of about 1,550 restaurants last year. That restructuring began in 2023, according to Denny’s.

As of late June, the company had 1,484 restaurants worldwide, 1,422 of which were franchised and the handful of others were company-owned.

Along the Route 30 corridor, Chipotle has a restaurant west of Greensburg across from the Greengate Center and one east of the city, outside the Westmoreland Mall.

In that same corridor, Denny’s also has a restaurant near Chipolte’s west of Greensburg and one in Unity. Denny’s previously closed one of its restaurants at the Smithton truck stop off Interstate 70 in South Huntingdon.