Carol Stream to welcome new Chipotle, Jack in the Box in 2025

The Village of Carol Stream is awaiting permits for a new Chipotle restaurant approved for 114 S. Schmale Road, at the Carol Stream Marketplace.

A roughly 2,400-square-foot building, the restaurant will offer indoor and outdoor seating and feature a drive-through lane. It is anticipated to open in the second half of 2025.

The “Chipotlane” will allow customers to pick up digital orders from their vehicles rather than ordering them at a typical outdoor menu board and paying at a drive-through window. Under this option, customers place their digital orders through the Chipotle website or application with payment made during the initial transaction.

A development of Chicago-based GW Properties, the restaurant was approved by the Carol Stream Village Board Oct. 7. Proposed hours of operation are 10:45 a.m.-11 p.m. daily, with 10 to 12 employees per shift.

“I think it’s good, because it’s another restaurant option at the Carol Stream Marketplace shopping center,” said Tom Farace, Carol Stream’s planning and economic development manager.

The project, first broached by GW Properties in June, will be built on a vacant, 1-acre outlot within the planned development, anchored by Caputo’s Fresh Markets and LA Fitness.

“Hopefully we’ll have the permits for this soon,” Farace said.

The same holds for the anticipated new Jack in the Box restaurant taking residence in a former Arby’s, 441 E. Geneva Road.

Less labor-intensive than the new Chipotle, Jack in the Box requires retrofitting the former Arby’s with interior remodeling and some exterior upgrades, Farace said.

One of a reported eight new Jack in the Box restaurants planned by the San Diego-based chain for the Chicago area, the Carol Stream location also should open in 2025.

“They should probably be ready sooner than Chipotle,” Farace said.

“I think I was maybe 2 or 3 when they left the Illinois area,” he added, “but people have fond memories of it.”