Chipotle Group Analysis

Chipotle ventured into a new territory when it was created, as it had an innovative vision for fast-casual restaurants. By using fresh and quality ingredients, Chipotle raised the bar in their segment. The service line where customers could see their order being prepared enhanced the experience of Chipotle. Consumers who were used to eating at fast-casual restaurants where the food was frozen and made out of sight were able to savor the uniqueness of Chipotle. These differences helped Chipotle become successful. However, as competitors copy the traits that make Chipotle unique, Chipotle must adapt and overcome in order to remain a profitable company.

Chipotle’s organizational structure is centered on the functional structure. The top levels of management include the co-CEOs, CFO, Head-Media Relations, and Chief Creative and Development Officer CCDO (Chipotle). Chipotle is a smaller corporation relative to its competitors, which allows it to focus on a vertical hierarchy based on functions. The fact that there are few departments demonstrates that Chipotle is still a growing corporation. Chipotle is a highly centralized corporation as all of its stores are corporate owned and they must follow the rules set by the corporate headquarters this involves the same menu throughout the country and the same prices. The restaurant business follows high levels of formalization a set of guidelines must be followed in order to comply with food and health regulations. There is low division of labor at the restaurant level as those cooking can shift to serving and cleaning when needed, allowing the allocation of labor to match whatever is needed in the situation. A unique aspect of Chipotle’s upper management is the fact that there are two CEOs (Feloni). The two CEO help ease job functions and enables them to be more accessible. Another managerial aspect of Chipotle is the through the position of restaurateur. There are 183 of these positions and they work to manage several Chipotles, bringing management close to each store (Investor’s Business Daily). From their organizational structure we can see they place high importance on

Chipotle Mexican Grill is one the fastest growing restaurant businesses in the United States. Chipotle Mexican Grill was founded by the current CEO, Steve Ells, in 1993. Chipotle headquarters are located at 1401 Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202. The company operates in the restaurant industry and more specifically the fast casual Mexican restaurant market.

Where and when did you observe the behaviors? Who made the observations? On 1/28/16, En-Lei observed inside of Chipotle. On 1/29/16 and 1/30/16, Matt observed across the street from Chipotle. On 2/1/16, Dana observed from a window across from Chipotle in the lobby of the Huntington Hall. On 2/2/16, John observed across the street from Chipotle. What behavior categories did you observe? How did you define each behavior category? We observed the outwardly happiness or unhappiness of individuals leaving Chipotle during lunch hours. We defined outwardly happiness as the smiling of each individual leaving Chipotle and unhappiness as the lack of a smile. When and how did you make observations? We used the frequency method of observation during lunchtime

It turns out even Chipotle isn’t perfect. Seventeen Chipotle locations in Minnesota have been linked to a recent salmonella outbreak and are currently under investigation by the state’s health officials.

Have you ever tried the best tasting fast food Mexican restaurant on the market? It is called Chipotle. Chipotles restaurant has great service and many excellent choices.

“Chick-fil-A,” around the world, appears to be only a restaurant filled with good food and “my pleasures,” but to me, this place has a greater importance and meaning. Beginning my 7th grade year, in 2011, I have gathered with a group of roughly 15 female peers every Tuesday morning before school at 7 in the morning to grow closer and form a committed community. As we have grown together, we have gained some new members and grew apart from others, but throughout the years, my favorite opportunity was being asked to lead a group of younger girls inspired by my group. Every Thursday morning, at 7am, beginning at the start of last year, 2015, I gather with a community of younger girls to talk, grow with, inspire, and learn from. Although this group is small, 8 girls at most, and we have not been gathering for long, the love shared around the corner “Chick-fil-A” booth each week feels more like family.

Chipotle inappropriately handled this crisis because CEO Steve Ells and Co-CEO Monty Moran blamed the Center for Disease Control and the media for exaggerating the outbreak. Creating a public perception of Chipotle’s board members who did not showcase a clear motive for public health safety. After the E. coli outbreak, Moran made statements to Chipotle’s investors at an industry conference: “The media likes to write sensational headlines, you’ll probably see, you know, when somebody sneezes, Ah, it’s E. coli from Chipotle” (Colvin, 2015). Moran made another statement on Twitter ‘saying’ “CDC is working in an unorthodox way” (Wohl, 2015). Moran’s arrogant comments reflected a quality of an unconcerned CEO in the eyes of the public. In one of

The first factor is Globalization: the world wide goal of using naturally raised standards, Chipotle had the main core value of customers and animals well being and stopped using hormones and antibiotics hormones on animals and started raising them on a free range on farmland: naturally raised animals. Secondly, Consumers: where Chipotle provided them with high quality, tasty and affordable. The third factor is competition: which varies with region, market, and restaurant. Chipotle face stiff completion from Panera Bread, chick-fill-A, Noodle and other companies. The completion is in the form of taste, quality, and speed of service, prices value, brand recognition, location, customer services and competitor condition. The other factor is marketing: the company focuses on word of mouth and strategic marketing promotions although it used radio and billboards Medias without television which was not genuine. Lately, the company has embarked on the sending messages on Twitter and Facebook, which is the modern marketing methods and also helps to reach a large population compared to the historical media. The company has the hope of finding a content delivery platform that would inspire consumers to become curious about where their food comes from, so as for customers to the idea of chipotle have the food with integrity.

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.

Chipotle’s quick ratio is 3.28, slightly lower than its current ratio. Yum! Foods quick ratio is .62, which is also slightly lower than their current ratio. Both ratios are acceptable as long as A/R is not expected to slow. Chipotle appears to be a significantly stronger company than Yum! Foods. The industry average is not given.

Tatjana: The team at Chipotle is a work group. The group’s identity seemed strong. They were relying on one another to keep the line moving quickly and getting customers their food as quickly as possible. As I noted above, they were working together as a group (e.g. replenishing the chicken) and when the line started to slow down, team members moved from behind the counter and started cleaning up the restaurant, replenishing the utensils, napkins, etc.

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).

Steve Ells is the founder and CEO of Chipotle. Steve is a trained chef and opened his first Chipotle store in 1993 at a former Dolly Madison ice cream store in Denver, Colorado. His goal was to serve high quality, delicious food quickly and in a “fast-casual” setting (Ells).

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