Business Analysis: Chipotle Strategies And Decision Making

The company had run a national TV commercial which named “Back to the Start” during the Grammy Awards. Chipotle also had published their food, restaurant concept and business through favorable articles and television programs. Moreover, Chipotle used video and music programs as well as event strategy to attract the consumers’ attention to their restaurants. The company also initiated promotional activities via newly opened restaurants to attract more consumers. Chipotle introduced a reward program, the “Farm Team” to encourage more customers to join a program that educated them something related to Chipotle Mexican Grill business concept. In addition, the word-of-mouth publicity from customers enable Chipotle to reduce the cost of advertising but at the same time increasing the brand reputation of the restaurants in the

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast casual Mexican Restaurant that operates from the United States. Although the restaurant is specifically segmented to the fast casual Mexican restaurant market, it does not simply operate in this realm. Chipotle is also successful operating in the restaurant market as well. According to the Trefis Team (2014) Chipotle Mexican Grill has managed to take market share from restaurants in the fast food industry.

Chipotle is facing numerous challenges due to the fact that E. coli outbreak which requires the corporation from the key stakeholders to keep it under control and apply the new food safety protocols which can aid to bring the regular customers back. Although the main cause remains a mystery, Chipotle’s E. coli outbreak has been authoritatively declared officially over by the experts. However, since the poisoning outbreak, the impact of the reduced number of customers affects the profit which the company used to enjoy before such eventuality (Scholes 27).

This paper explores the mission, vision, values and principles of Chipotle Mexican Grill that guide them in the restaurant industry. Their key mission, vision, and values revolve around providing food with integrity and changing the way people think about and eat fast food. Chipotle’s principles include sticking to the basics of a simple menu and uncomplicated, interactive employee roles.

The Chipotle Mexican Grille opened its first store in 1993 beginning a new category in the restaurant industry known as “fast casual” (About Us, 2014). This new category featured the “highest quality raw ingredients, classic cooking methods, and distinctive interior design-features that are more frequently found in the world of fine dining.” However, aside from the normally long wait in lines, an order could be taken and served in only a couple minutes. Currently Chipotle operates more than 1,500 restaurants internationally. The following pages will present a balanced approach to the effectiveness of Chipotle’s strategy analyzing financial performance, customer satisfaction, employee/learning and growth, and internal process.

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

Chipotle’s main focus in marketing is in the United States but follows the same model in the international market. It has never been Chipotles intention to “put its stamp on a bunch of restaurants around the world”, but their vision as a company is to change the way people think about and eat fast food, which they feel the “other guys” are not focusing on, (Van Tan, n.d.). With this mindset, Chipotle believes there’s certainly room for them to build that position in other countries as it has been successful in the U.S., (Van Tan, n.d.). In the London market Chipotle followed the same model as in the United States about the brand and its grassroots marketing efforts to the streamlined menu to the assembly line operations, (Van Tan, n.d.). Chipotle executives’ views are that it doesn’t need to be any different going into Europe as it will all be the same. Chipotle is about simplicity, after all, (Van Tan, n.d.). From the start the London store focused on building management potential in its own employees. Management and personnel from the company travelled to London to open and train new Chipotle team members how to do things the Chipotle way, (Van Tan, n.d.). Chipotle strives to promote from within and with 80% of management staff coming from internal sources this is obvious, (Van Tan, n.d.). Developing their own people and moving them to manage other

The fast food, or quick service restaurant industry (QSR), represents approximately 200,000 restaurants and $155 billion in sales in the U.S. alone, they are one of the largest segments of the food industry (Hoovers, 2011). This segment of the restaurant industry is “highly competitive and fragmented… number, size and strength of competitors vary by region, market and even restaurant. All of these restaurants compete based on a number of factors, including taste, quality, speed of service, price and value, name recognition, restaurant location, customer service and the ambience and condition of each restaurant” (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,

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.

One can only assume that Chipotle uses concentration strategies for their corporate level strategies, because they only concentrate on the restaurant industry. Market penetration and market development is their main focus, as they are attracting new customers as they increase brand awareness through their business strategies and their “Food With Integrity” campaign, Farmed and Dangerous live action story-telling comedy series, and Cultivate Foundation, which is a non-profit organization supporting sustainable agriculture, family farming and food education, and they are expanding into new markets with international expansion, so Chipotle can continue “to change the way people think about and eat fast food” (Chipotle, 2015). Chipotle also, uses ‘product development’, but not as aggressively as market penetration. The most recent product development is a meat alternative made from tofu, called “Sofritas”. Chipotle is highly invested in Pizzeria Locale, suggesting the possibility of horizontal integration in the near future, and is using an adjacent strategy with its sister restaurant ShopHouse Southeast Asian

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.").

Chipotle’s “Back to the Start” advertisement captures the sentiments of the audience by depicting Chipotle’s competitors’ practices as unethical. In both “Back to the Start” and the “Scarecrow” advertisements, Chipotle attempts to align itself with society’s growing belief that humane agriculture is better. Chipotle’s advertisements present their practices to be ethical, which sets its products apart from its competition. However, Chipotle’s message employs the same sentimental appeals and logical fallacies that are effective in their competitors’ advertisements.

Chipotle is a fast casual dining establishment that serves Mexican cuisine, specializing in burritos and tacos. Like other fast casual restaurants, it does not offer full table service, but promises a higher quality of food with fewer frozen or processed ingredients than fast food restaurants. In fact, Chipotle is widely known for its mission to only use organic ingredients and

This case study is about Chipotle, a young fast food company. In 2012, Chipotle has shown a successful performance with its Grills. Following the path, Chipotle is building a new project which is the ShopHouse. The ShopHouse predicated on much the same strategy with the Grill but it had