Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle’s strategy is focus on the selected menu that they can provide best to the customers. Also, differentiate with other fast food restaurant such as Taco bell. Chipotle’s competitive advantage is related with the differentiation. They are in the fast-food market, but offer fresh, local produced ingredient and no hormones added to their meat and other dairy products. Therefore, customers who seek integrity, they will go to Chipotle for Mexican fast food.

Two Mexican restaurants; Chipotle and Qudoba. People say both taste great but many people choose one versus the other. Working at Chipotle, I get a lot of pros and cons about Qudoba and Chipotle. Some people don’t like that our guacamole isn’t free. People always say “why don’t you be like Qudoba and have your guacamole free?” and I always tell them “our guacamole is organic, handmade. I would know because I make the guacamole.” Chipotle is a better place to eat because our food is handmade and organic. Our vision statement is “to change the way people think about fast food and to create an environment empowered by top performers who achieve high standards” (Moran)

As demonstrated in Exhibit 1 on page 143, the company’s total revenue increased from $1.085.782 million dollars to $3.214.591 million dollars in less than seven years. Beginning at the end of 2007 through the end of 2013, Chipotle’s Mexican Grill total revenues increased at a CAGR of 19.83%. The new provided catering program, the six elements of their strategy adapted to other cuisines (ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen) and the growing number of new restaurants are decisive aspects in increasing revenue yearly.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Incorporated is a restaurant that offers Mexican food including burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla), salads, and more. The company has been in operations since 1993, starting out as one unit and growing to 1,300 units in over 46 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and the United Kingdom in 2011. The restaurant served fast-casual food with a customizable menu. The restaurant prides itself on serving food made from scratch with wholesome, organic ingredients (Chipotle, 2016). Chipotle is a restaurant in the fast-casual dining industry, focusing on food sourced from sustainable farming practices including meat product that is responsibly raised in humane ways

re strong competitors and Yum! Foods leads the industry it is my recommendation that any investments be made in Chipotle.

One of the biggest epidemics that hit the seen this year is the ongoing e-coil scare that involves six states and 45 people with the fast growing Mexican food chain Chipotle. Currently the Center for Disease Control Prevention has tracked a serious strand of e-coil, to a common meal item or ingredient served at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in several states. Out of those 45 people that have came in contact with the strand of e-coil 16 of them have been hospitalized due to the severeness of the strand. This epidemic can be categorized as being serious do to the fact that it has spread over many states and yet it has not been pinpointed to a specific cause.

2. What does a SWOT analysis reveal about the attractiveness of Chipotle Mexican Grill’s situation and future prospects?

The Fast food industry is extremely competitive. Although Chipotle is a step up from most fast food restaurants, it still must

The purpose of this new product expansion is to increase sales primarily. Increasing sales is very important for Chipotle and these new products can help raise revenues significantly. The project deliverables include the introduction of the project, and the implementation of the project both in the United States and then other

Due to economic downturn the strength of the buyers’ power has increased as the industry looks to gain consumers with pricing strategies much like those of McDonald’s “Value Menu” and combination meals even though the cost of commodities have gone up (James, 2010). Customers of QSRs are looking for quality food without high costs. While Chipotle does not have a value menu or offer any type of combination meal much of their success is due to the fact that the customers are willing to pay a higher cost for higher-quality (Chipotle, 2010).

Chipotle is the leader in the fast casual market, with over 1,900 locations, $3.21 billion in annual revenue, and the ability to serve up to 300 customers an hour. It has innovated the restaurant market by providing reasonably priced scratch-made meals, containing local ingredients, all within the confines of a pleasing aesthetic environment (Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., 2014; Kaplan, 2011). To reach its success, the firm utilized architectural innovation by stealing components of various types of restaurants already in existence. The company appropriated its rapid meal preparation methods from fast food chains such Subway and Quiznos, adopted its provision of quality food from more upscale casual Mexican restaurants, and implemented a locally based supply chain similar to that seen at many local farm-to-table establishments. This convergence of different properties came together right as the millennial generation was coming of age and demand higher quality, natural, and locally sourced ingredients in meals that could receive quickly. The company has also attempted to utilize an incremental innovation approach by removing all CMO ingredients and testing new foods such as breakfast items, soup, and chorizo sausage (The Associated Press, 2015; Peterson,

It is also more widely spread geographically. Subway also offers the “choose your own” style of service, but it does not serve organic foods ("Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. SWOT Analysis."). Hot Head Burrito is another Mexican style restaurant that would be considered a competitor. These restaurants offer cheaper menu prices, lower-carb options and “diet menus” ("Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. SWOT Analysis."). While Chipotle offers none of these things, they have quite a large target market and have grown tremendously just in the last five years ("Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. SWOT Analysis.").

I believe one segment of the Chipotle customer population is the self-expression people. These people are the kind of customers that want to express their values of supporting the local farmers and the farmer’s mission of growing organic food and their way of supporting that movement is by patronizing this kind of restaurant.

Management is the backbone of any good company. In order for a company to successful, a strong management team is needed in order to meet goals in an effective and efficient manner. Chipotle opened its doors in 1993 when Steve Ells took a chance and began his business in San Francisco. Chipotle is a chain of Mexican restaurants that is based in Denver. Chipotle is often cited as the company that started the fast casual movement where customers can get a healthy prepared meal quicker than other traditional styled restaurant. The fast casual restaurant concept was well received and Chipotle’s popularity expanded all across the United States. Customers could not get enough of the Mexican chain and massive lines could be seen stretching outside the stores all across the country. Along with its popular food, Chipotle Mexican Style Grill is a company that contains a successful management style. Why? What sets this companies management apart from the rest? There are many factors that we could analyze to understand the success of Chipotle, yet for the purpose of this paper, we will look into the cooperate culture of the company, human resource management, their leadership style, and how Chipotle deals with and how the company manages in times of crisis.

Mission – By delivering uniquely flavored Mexican style food at budget prices, Taco Bell seeks to establish an international presence over the next 5 years. The current international fast food markets in Asia, South America, and Africa are dominated by American style fast food which leaves considerable opportunity for competing styles of cuisine, Taco Bell will use an aggressive marketing plan and develop a supply chain network that will enable rapid growth in overseas markets. Newly established restaurants will be able to supply local communities with quality meals at competitive prices while simultaneously creating value for shareholders.