What do you mean Atomic Burrito fizzled in comparison to Qdoba/Chipotle?
In the beginning (Tulsa region anyhow)... there was only Atomic Burrito.
Owners decided to open Los Cabos and sold their A.B. locations to Qdoba.
Years later, Chipotle comes to town.
I know they never directly competed, that's why I said "fizzled in comparison to" and not "fizzled in competition with"
I really liked Atomic Burrito (better than Qdoba actually) but they only survived because the other two weren't here. They had no real niche or anything they did obviously better. The service and marketing power of the big three (we don't have Baja Fresh yet) could easily crush them.
Keep in mind they sold the Atomic burrito business and opened a Los Cabos restaurant that failed miserably, although later iterations finally took off.