Swot Analysis : Chipotle Restaurants

Chipotle saw an opportunity in the fast-casual restaurant industry and launched an innovative concept. It believes that fresh and quality ingredients are key and that customers are willing to pay more for such ingredients. To ensure such ingredients, Chipotle uses a large amount of organic food in their restaurants. This not only creates fresher and healthier food options for consumers, but also assists local farms that supply the organic food. Not only does Chipotle use organic food, but it uses produce that is in season. This reduces the costs of transporting produce and ensures that the ingredients are fresh. While competitors attempt to replicate the menu, style, and flavors of Chipotle, they do not have the resources to use organic ingredients as efficiently as Chipotle does. This is one strength of

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.

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

In order to distinguish itself from competitors, especially Qdoba doesn’t want to be “me-too Chipotle”, Qdoba redesigned everything includes in-store layout, new branding, and personalized service. For example, Qdoba has colorful and artistic design on the wall, seating and washroom, which creates strong visual effect of Mexican culture and makes customer feel casual and happy. As we know, Chipotle is the King of burrito, however Qdoba choose to promote variety tacos to develop it’s competitive advantage. Qdoba launched a set of six Knockout tacos on October 27th, 2015, which enriched Qdoba’s menu items and provided more options for customers. Also, Qdoba’s employees with new designed uniforms are encouraged to speak their recommendations and provide more human touch services not machine-like assembly line. “The worst thing you could hear is as server who says everything’s good.” said John Cooke, VP, menu strategy and innovation at Qdoba. Furthermore, Qdoba introduced a kid’s menu and has 24 open hours for some locations to satisfy more customer needs.

Due to the fact that Chipotle is worried about providing customers with the best possible ingredients and in the same time, concerned of taking care about environment, animals as well as farmers, which in this case, are the main suppliers, we can encapsulate Chipotle in a Sociocultural segment.

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.

The amazing service that chipotle has is great. The line in Chipotle can be a mile long and it will only take ten minutes to go through the line. Also you can phone in your order it is ready for pickup once you arrive and you avoid the line. The workers are very polite the will most likely clear your table even though you are supposed to do it.

Chipotle's burrito is meant to match taste for non-Hispanic white and people that have embraced a healthier way of life and spending. They are purchasing less, and are searching for more prominent quality in their buys. In today's economy, fiscally careful purchasers are searching for more noteworthy worth with a right mix of item quality and great service at a reasonable cost. Chipotle makes a sound pattern by serving high quality food at moderate costs. This pattern has prompted new markets to those purchasers that are searching for fast food with a sound viewpoint. Chipotle has made a society that influences society's conduct towards solid sustenances and natural fixings. Chipotle has great awareness toward their natural ingredients and practices that bolster environmental sustainability for their organic ingredients and meats. Chipotle's statement of purpose aims to respond to its customer’s interest for more quality at reasonable

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.

Changes in customer preferences, general economic conditions, discretionary spending priorities, demographic trends, traffic patterns and the type, number and location of competing restaurants have a moderate effect on the restaurant industry (Chipotle, 2010). One example of customer preferences being a driver in the industry is the “Whole Food-ism Movement” which has put a large focus on organic, antibiotic-free, and non-processed foods (Mansolillo, 2007). Consumers now look for healthier options when eating and an overall healthier lifestyle. Chipotle has been able to benefit from this movement by carrying on their “Food with Integrity” mission (Chipotle, 2010).

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

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).

Thus, Chipotle must find a way to differentiate itself from other western restaurant chains, while integrating itself into the Chinese culture. It can use its capital and reputation for using local and sustainable ingredients to build a strong brand—a core competency that will give it a competitive advantage in the Chinese market. In a large, international city like Shanghai, local street food is cheap, but people will still want to dine at higher-end western restaurants because of that entails a higher status (Maxfield,

CMO Mark Crumpacker stated, fast-food marketing typically is a game of trying to obscure the truth; The more people know about fast-food, the less interest they’d want to be a customer. Chipotle’s mission statement “Food with Integrity” reflects its focus on fresh ingredients; great food with a socially responsible message made them one of the first organic oriented fast-food restaurant