main method it uses for promotion is "word-of-mouth publicity," the company says. Chipotle even lists advertising as a "risk factor" to its business, if the company were forced to do more of it for competitive reasons (see page 13):
"That could require us to change our pricing, advertising or promotional strategies, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations or the brand identity that we have tried to create."
The strategy has worked. Last year, Chipotle had sales of $2.3 billion, a 23 percent sales increase and an 11 percent same-store increase. Carol Phillips, an adjunct marketing and branding instructor at University of Notre Dame told Age that Chipotle's street cred comes from not being on TV:
"Millennials
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.
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
The actions taken by Chipotle after the E.coli outbreak can be seen as both exacerbating the problem and finding ways to resolve the problem. However, as the crisis began, leadership coming from CEO Steve Ells and Co-CEO Monty Moran painted a picture of denial. One of the first decisions made in reaction the crisis was to purchase full-paid advertisements. This marketing tactic was done to mask the severity of the e-coli outbreak, sooth investors, and retain loyal customers. In addition to television advertisements, Chipotle decided to advertise using direct mail (Wahba, 2016). This practice does not correlate with traditional chipotle advertising; their last paid advertisement was in 2012. Chipotle has always operated in a fashion that let
I wonder if there are any factors that would make a SWOT analysis not useful? Ultimately, if the SWOT analysis is not completed correctly, it could be problematic. Clearly, the leadership of the organization has to be in-tune with their operations to enable them to take advantage of this tool (Parnell, 2014). Notably, SWOT analysis is useful regardless of the size or type business (Makos, 2014).
It’s nearing the end of the fourth quarter, stomachs are growling across the arena. The home team scores in the last minute, winning the game. The fans cheer and shout in pure joy; however, they’ve become hungry from the long game. They must find a place to satisfy the desire to celebrate and to please their hunger. They all gather in their cars and drive by many fast food restaurants such as: McDonalds, Burger King, and Chickfila. Then they spot it, the holy grail of fast food restaurants, Chipotle Mexican Grill. This is a great restaurant that can attend to all of your needs, hunger, and celebration after a sporting event. Chipotle has many accommodations which include: a great location, a wonderful atmosphere,
Our mission is to serve delicious, reasonably priced meals with an emphasis on local sources for food, craft beer, and wine, along with second mile hospitality and operational excellence. Our hospitality and food quality training is heavily influenced by the 16 months the owner worked with Chick-fil-A in Fort Lauderdale and as a Grand Opening Trainer.
“Food with Integrity”. That is the mission statement of the recently popularized Mexican style fast food restaurant, known as Chipotle. What does food with integrity actually mean? According to the Chipotle website, the company is committed to providing the freshest ingredients. Which translates into purchasing organic produce, dairy without added hormones, and naturally raised meats.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) is a fast food restaurant that serves burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads that are made using fresh ingredients. Since its establishment in 1993, there are 1,755 Chipotle restaurants throughout the United States and 17 Chipotle restaurants located in Europe. Chipotle is known for high quality ingredients that they use to create their “gourmet” burritos. The ingredients include naturally raised pork, beef, and chicken. Chipotle switched to hormone free dairy ingredients in 2007 and since 2008 a portion of Chipotles black beans is certified organic. Additionally, the company provides consumers with a short menu that is customizable with many options. Chipotle uses traditional culinary techniques to insure that
coli outbreak can be seen as exacerbating the problem, even though they were trying to find ways to resolve the problem. As, as the crisis began, leadership coming from CEO Steve Ells and Co-CEO Monty Moran portrayed repudiation. One of the first decisions made in reaction to the E. coli outbreak was to purchase full-paid advertisements. This marketing tactic was a ploy to mask the severity of the epidemic, soothe investors, and retain loyal customers. In addition to paper ads, Chipotle decided to advertise using direct mail and television advertisements (Wahba, 2016). This practice did not correlate with traditional chipotle advertising; before the outbreak, their last paid advertisement took place in 2012. Chipotle has always operated in a fashion that let their brand, and high-quality products speak for themselves. However, both Ells and Moran felt that the time to promote their brand was needed more than
Chipotle first opened in Denver in 1993 with a simple idea behind it, “food served fast didn’t have to be “fast-food” experience”, (Chipotle Mexican Grill, 2015). Prior to CEO Steve Ellis opening the restaurant chain, he himself was a chef. Since its creation, Chipotle has become a phenomenon in the restaurant industry and has experienced tremendous growth since it went public in 2006 with over 1,600 restaurants in Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and France, with the majority located in the United States (Chipotle Mexican Grill, 2015).
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,
The last core competency of Chipotle is special people culture, which builds loyalty and enthusiasm for the Chipotle brand between customers and employees. Chipotle’s crew consists of friendly, high – performing people motivated to take good care of each customers and empowered to achieve high standard. They are trained to make every effort to respond positively to customer requests and suggestions in order to deliver great customer – pleasing
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).