Benjamin Amate
2/5/2014
Management
Professor Bradford
Chipotle Summary #1 When the founder of Chipotle, Steve Ells, opened up his first restaurant in Denver, CO it was made to be a stepping stone into the high end restaurant industry. However the products he offered ended up finding a niche in the food industry. He revolutionized ordering food by making the customer interact with the workers as they move down a burrito production line; knowing exactly what is going into your tortilla. Chipotle falls under the category of a “fast-casual” restaurant with the likes of well established Panera Bread and Qdoba, another mexican restaurant quite similar to Chipotle. Fast-casual is the fastest growing category in the restaurant business and it has boosted sales in the United States by 13% in 2012. This is because it provides quality food you would expect from a 5-star restaurant, at an affordable price, while also being in a timely manor. You cant beat that. Chipotle stands out from all other restaurants because they made a promise not to use products from industrial farms, making it so that everything they have to offer is from a local farm. For most people that is a huge selling point and is why they will choose Chipotle over another restaurant. Chipotle has been described as “food with integrity” because of where they get their food from and how they raise their livestock. What people don't know is that the CEO, CO-CEO, and CMO all graduated from the same culinary institute so they're chefs before businessmen and put quality over everything. The three highest people in the company are also very close friends which makes it feel like more of a family instead of a business. Their pricing strategy at Chipotle is simple. Quality food at an affordable price. For $6.45 you can buy a chicken burrito that you are unlikely to finish in one sitting while knowing everything you're eating is fresh. One of the things that makes Chipotle financially successful is the simple menu and the fact they don't constantly add new items to the menu. In return they don't need to spend money on advertising items. In fact Chipotle is yet to air a television commercial to date. In 2012 Chipotle had over 1,400 locations in the United States as well as five in Canada, seven in Europe, and many more under construction. The final quarter and yearly earnings were