Chipotle: The Fast Food Industry

Chipotle does have some core competencies. They have five to be exact. The first one is serving a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads. The second one is using high-quality raw ingredients and classic cooking methods to create great-tasting, reasonably price dishes that were ready to be served to customers minutes after they were ordered. The third one is creating an operationally efficient restaurant with an aesthetically pleasing and distinctive interior setting. The fourth one is having friendly people take care of each customer. Lastly doing all of these with increasing awareness and respect for the environment, the use of organically grown fresh produce, and meats raised in a humane manner without hormones and antibiotics.

Chipotle and Qdoba each have their similarities and differences. Dating back to the 1990s, Chipotle and Qdoba were both created within a few years of each other. Each restaurant classifies itself as a “Mexican grill” with an assembly line style of ordering. Though Chipotle and Qdoba have the same restaurant set up, they differ in price, product choices, and advertising.

Chipotle Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose Chipotle Mexican Grill founded in 1993 by Steve Ells became known as the fast-casual dining in the restaurant industry (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013). It was the first of its kind when Ells first opened his first restaurant and brought the idea of made-to-order burrito. The concept is so simple, and the consumer is in control of what ingredients goes into their burrito. “The immediate success from Ells’ first restaurant allowed him to repay the $80,000 loan that he borrowed from his father within a month of opening” (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013, p. 71). Furthermore, this gave him the confidence to open his second restaurant in just two years.

Introduction The restaurant industry in the United States had annual sales of $ 631.8 billion and employs 12.9 million people in 2012. Even in times of recession there is little evidence that this industry has seen a decline especially in its fast food and quick service segment. But with a depressed economy with no immediate upward trend in the near future, majority of the customers indicated that they would either curtail their spending on eating or best maintain its current level which is certainly going to affect the future of many restaurants in the industry. Chipotle is part of the fast casual segment of the U.S industry with over 1,600 restaurants.

I just want to figure out what is so great about these two places, and figure out how they are the same, and how they are different. There are many people in the world that are in love with Chipotle. They even have there own chipotle rewards card because they go there so much. So, lately I visited Chipotle, and I tried out all of their signature food that people are always raving about.

Chick-Fil-A is a fast food restaurant in the Houston area with over 750 restaurants nationwide. Their success is due to the unique environment, delicious food and prompt service. First of all, Chick-fil-a has a comfortable environment. There are Booths or tables available to all customers dining in. The restaurant is active and busy most of the day, but the food will always be served right away.

Who hasn’t heard about Chipotle yet? Chipotle is modern day fast food business. Chipotle thrives on serving non-GMO and healthy foods. Chipotles profits are estimated over $200 million. There are over 2,000 Chipotle franchises across America in 2015.

Chipotle is in the fast casual industry where competition is extremely intense since there are so many different dining options. An industry like fast casual restaurants has a very high growth rate therefore there is not just one company that has the market cornered. What sets the restaurants apart is not cost but product differentiation; they position themselves in the market with their slogan of Food with Integrity. Since restaurants in the fast casual industry are priced fairly in the same range Chipotle uses different product features to set themselves apart from the others (parature.com). The first value driver in Chipotle’s differentiation strategy is the product quality; they utilize local farmers who are conscience of the environment.

After interviewing Daniel Marsh in order to learn more about the required etiquette standard that his job requires, I must say that I was impressed. I was impressed to learn about how much his job, Chick-Fil-A, value their employees and customers. The level of etiquette that Chick-Fil-A requires their coworkers to display shows how much they care about the reputation of the company. According to Daniel, Chick- Fi-La requires their customers to remain friendly and calm at all times, even with rude customers. Daniel’s coworkers are allowed to talk to each other with a firm and sometimes slightly aggressive voice, however the use of a firm tone is always prohibited when talking to customers. Basing my conclusion on the information from the book, an aggressive act occurs when a person commit an act that might offend others without caring about

This provides a valuable tool for molding the kind of success-orientated culture at Chipotle. Instead of wasting time and resources while recruiting new members, they save time, capital, and resources by rewarding and promoting from within. This leads to maximization of profit, reduction of turnover, and improved employee satisfaction and performance through retained knowledge, skills, and experience of long-term employees. The net effect of these communication and management methodologies is to ensure that services offered to customers are of the highest possible quality. For example, 84% of the customers spend less than five minutes waiting to be served.

Then in 1998, McDonalds invested $360 million into Chipotle, allowing it to expand rapidly. The Chipotle Mexican Grill experience is an introduction to fast food 2.0, a new version of chain eateries that focus on quick, fresh, and hip food for us young people. Focusing on fresh ingredients, Chipotle’s ingredients are organic and their meat is not contaminated with chemicals, unlike most other fast food chains. When I step up to the counter, I notice a refrigerator filled with drinks. With a full liquor license, Chipotle also

The customers get to pick the food they want in their bowls. They also have the menu, it is simple and easy to understand. Chipotle is a convenience restaurant, so a lot of student or businessmen and women would go there. Therefore, it always has people waiting in the lines.



1. It is clear that Gen X and Millennials have established Chipotle as part of their pop culture. With videos out there like “Chipotle is my life” as mentioned by one of participants which went viral it is clear that when young people are getting hungry chipotle isn’t far from their mind. Sometimes when things go viral or

Brands, 2017). Although the market positioning of Taco Bell differs from that of Chipotle, Taco Bell could still be a key competitor of Chipotle, especially in the U.S., since Taco Bell also offers Mexican-inspired food items to the

As far as the question of “are there any Chipotle food items that are toxic to cats and dogs?” my response is a resounding YES, E Coli, Norovirus & Salmonella, those are all toxic to humans and well even though cats and dogs have four legs and fur their internal organs and ours are made up pretty much the same way. Besides their food items are not bland they are heavily seasoned, and will lead to an upset stomach and an unhappy