DENVER — Citing a “tremendous opportunity” to drive growth through a new strategy, Chipotle Mexican Grill on May 23 announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Newport Beach, Calif., from Denver.

“We have a tremendous opportunity at Chipotle to shape the future of our organization and drive growth through our new strategy,” said Brian Niccol, chief executive officer at Chipotle. “In order to align the structure around our strategic priorities, we are transforming our culture and building world-class teams to revitalize the brand and enable our long-term success.

“We’ll always be proud of our Denver roots where we opened our first restaurant 25 years ago. The consolidation of offices and the move to California will help us drive sustainable growth while continuing to position us well in the competition for top talent.”

Chipotle said it will spend the next six months transitioning its Denver and New York office functions to the new headquarters in Newport Beach and an existing office in Columbus, Ohio. Newport Beach is expected to serve as the headquarters for the company’s operations, business development, marketing, communications, finance, supply chain, food safety, technology, human resources and other corporate functions, while the company’s support functions will transition to a Shared Services Center in Columbus.

Following the relocation of employees, Chipotle said it expects to expand its workforce in Columbus to more than 250 employees from 100 currently.

“The standardization and consolidation of systems and processes into one location will greatly benefit our company and our shareholders,” said Jack Hartung, chief finance officer. “Through technology and the consolidation of talent, we’ll create a world class Shared Services Center with increased productivity and quality services supporting our employees and our restaurants.”

The move will affect approximately 400 employees in Denver and New York in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, the company said.