Chipotle was founded in 1993 by Steve Ells as a fast-casual Mexican Grill restaurant. It is considered to be a pioneer in this segment of the restaurant market as it has changed the way we eat fast food. According to Chipotle’s website, their mission statement is to “change the way people think and eat fast food” and it is safe to say that they have achieved that goal. Chipotle claims to serve their food with fresh ingredients from sustainable sources. They even have a program called “Food with integrity” in which they express their desire to find a sustainable source of their raw ingredients which pays respect to the animals, farmers and the environment. Chipotle wants to appeal to their customers as a socially responsible company because they believe this would entice the customers in giving them a chance. Chipotle wants to build a reputation of a trusted brand that does what it claims unlike many other companies who are all talks but no actions. Chipotle works to find responsible and high quality suppliers in order to find natural and organic ingredients to serve their customers. The Mexican Grill company even source their suppliers to local farms by 35% which reduces the fossil fuels needed to deliver the ingredients and also helping out local farmers.
Instead of throwing a bunch of choices at consumers, Chipotle offers a more limited selection but with different variety of toppings. With Chipotle’s offering, customers can choose what they want in their food and also allows the customers to be more creative. Customers get to try out something a little different with each visit, which in turns really makes the selections not as limited as they may seem. Not only do they offer high quality ingredients, Chipotle also focuses on delivering food in a timely manner hence the term “Fast-casual”. Chipotle believes that being customer-oriented is the key to success which is not far off from the truth since Chipotle is the fastest growing restaurant chains in history.
One of Chipotle’s major issues is that they have to face many competitors. The restaurant market is saturated with fast food chains and many companies are wanting to join in the profits that Chipotle has been racking in. Some of Chipotle’s competitors are Panda Express, McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Panera just to name a few. Panda and Panera would be considered the biggest competitors to Chipotle in the fast casual segment market. Panera especially because it has similar offering to its customers in term of high quality ingredients and affordable prices.
Stakeholder Analysis and Management Evaluation
The first stakeholder to mention is the CEO of Chipotle. With a saturated market, Chipotle must continuously work harder to stand out from the rest, which isn’t easy to do given how many restaurants there are. Many fast food chains are growing in size and many more are entering the market. Chipotle is not just competing against big name chains but also mom and pop restaurants as well. Surely many customers will like a homey food from small restaurants than from a big corporate that tends to lack the hominess. More restaurants are also advertising healthier options on their menus as well which makes it even more competitive for Chipotle. With the current generation thriving on social media, one little slip from Chipotle and the whole world will know within seconds so Chipotle must work hard to provide the best customers service in order to avoid the bad spot light. The stake is higher here.
The second stakeholder is the customers of Chipotle. Some consumers have a strict diet where they only eat organic or certain types of food, some of which may be offered by Chipotle. Many consumers are also loyal to brands and may love Chipotle for what it stands for, so the stakes are high because whether Chipotle is upfront about its ingredients or not will affect many consumers. Some customers may only eat at Chipotle because they like the fact that they are helping local farmers or prefer organic food, and if Chipotle goes sideway of its mission statement then consumers may feel betrayed. As consumer, we tend to support brands with similar value and if the brand ends up changing its value, consumers may be angered by that.This especially important because consumers of Chipotle are actually going to be putting food in their bodies, if Chipotle fails to keep up with the health code, many consumers may fall ill. This will affect both the consumers and the CEO of the company. Consumers will be traumatized by the food poisoning which will prevent them from coming back, and the CEO will also suffer from the loss of profits and the company’s reputation may be ruined.
Recommendations and Implementation
It is important that Chipotle sticks with its mission of delivering high quality food at a reasonable price. Especially in current time, many people are more into their health and are more careful with what they put in their bodies. Not all of Chipotle’s competitors have caught up with high quality ingredients and reasonable price just yet so Chipotle must continue to prove their worth.
Chipotle should gain better advantages by partnering up with local farmers into receiving exclusive products, which may be difficult to do but if successful, it would be a huge win because it would make it even harder for Chipotle’s competitor to catch up. Chipotle should also invest more in their employees by providing more training and stresses the important of good customer service. Good publicity is always better than bad publicity. Not many fast food restaurants offer good customers service since they don’t think it’s important but it definitely makes a big difference.