What Is Chipotle's Differentiation Strategy

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.

Abstract Chipotle Mexican Grill is a well-known company that deals with fast food and has made significant and distinctive progress compared to other companies in the fast food industry. The company not only prepares food in front of customers but also makes sure that food is made with integrity. The integrity is enhanced by finding, evaluating, and choosing the right ingredients, which are from animals, farmers, and the environment (chipotle.com). These are the principles that serve to direct and guide the organization and help position it as a leader in the industry.

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.

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.

When it comes to fast food restaurants, most people tend to think of McDonald, Taco Bell, and KFC. Chipotle, however does not seem to have its name associate with the fast-food industry sector. Chipotle is a very successful Mexican-American chain restaurant that operates in more than 2000 locations world-wide. Its tremendous success results in its exponential growth and rising profit margin despite the scare of E. coli, Salmonella, and Norovirus in a few of its stores.

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

Hi Marquis, I agree with you, Chipotle does have quality issue. I have been to few chipotle joints, and I found that the food they serve many times its not that hygenic. Espcially, where are the foot steps as less, I have seen insects in the food. I am vegetarian, and I prefer that the staff change their gloves when they make me a burrito bowl, but they make faces when they are told to change their gloves.

Qdoba Mexican Grill is a very well structured company. In this paper we had taken a look at Qdoba’s history and saw how they came to be the company they are today. We also took a look their stock and saw how they are doing in the stock market and are the main provider for Jack In The Box. I talked about what its like to own a franchise, and showed you how much it cost to be an owner of Qdoba Mexican Grill. I explained why I always choose Qdoba over Chipotle, and that there isn’t too much of a difference between the two.

However our participants didn’t feel this way about chipotle as one mentioned “it is not overrated because the food is good” 
2. Young people today are looking for a quick and easy meal but demand the quality be up to par. This is why they are drawn to Chipotle over other fast-food competitors. When asked what came to mind when they heard the word Chipotle one person mentioned “fresh” I think this is valuable because it show past advertising has worked amongst the age group we were trying to enhance. By a show of hand we discussed dating habits and it was very clear young people are eating out a lot.

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 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.

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.

Sensitivity Analysis The sensitivity analysis focuses on examining how Chipotle’s valuation changes when some key inputs vary. Two of the most important inputs of the valuation are the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and the perpetuity growth rate. In this thesis, it is assumed that Chipotle would have a WACC of 6.65% and a perpetuity growth rate of 2.84%, which would result in a share price of $443.90 for Chipotle.

Since news about the Chipotle food poisoning broke, a lot of people became more concerned about the food they eat. The public began to realize that even renowned brands and giant food chains can also be the breeding ground for the next food related fiasco in town. Because of the two outbreaks of Norovirus (a virus that causes diarrhea, vomiting, body pains and fever among others) in Simi Valley and Boston, two E. coli outbreaks, and one Salmonella outbreak in Minnesota, Chipotle is now facing rapid drops in their food revenue, a decline in their stock value, a criminal investigation and a lawsuit.

1. Market Penetration requires increasing the existing product sales in the existing market. The main strategic objective is to obtain more market shares or get the position of market leader. As an example: Aldi followed the market penetration strategy by opening thousands of stores across UK offering the same products. 2.