Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. is an American chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France. Chipotle was founded by Steve Ells on July 13, 1993. It derives its name from Nahuatl for a smoked and dried jalapeño chili pepper. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
Chipotle is facing intense competition but still it has succeeded to attract much of its target customers. It has some several competitive advantages that will shield it from future competition and preserve its strong returns. We will discuss them as below.
Use of Natural Ingredients
Chipotles’ motto is “food with integrity” this demonstrates the company’ commitment to use responsibly raised animals, whole ingredients and produce from local farms. The ingredients used are natural and free from genetically modified components.
Style and Design
The logo and steel table atmosphere is just awesome! Chipotle has an ambiance to crave. Its interior design is out of this world. It has an open kitchen which shows a maximum transparency of ingredients being used. This environment encourages customers to enjoy their meal and drinks with friends in the restaurant.
Give Away
Chipotle will sometimes give out free burritos and guacamole and other times will offer a buy one get one free. During Halloween customers that show up dressed up in a costume receives a “burrito” for just $ 3.00. These are good strategies for making it the number one place to visit.
Advertisements
Apart from using word of mouth as a way of making it known. Chipotle has embraced more aggressive strategies of traditional advertising and loyalty programs. Chipotle also utilizes “cause marketing”. This promotes the message of sustainable food and agricultural practices instead of their own products. This helps consumers understand that they only incorporate natural products to make their dishes.
Customer Service
Chipotle has well-trained staff who offer a first class customer service. They have a program that is designed to create easier advancements for its employees within the company. They also have employee benefits that range from paid vacations, free meals, bonuses and tuition reimbursements. They love their jobs and portray positive energy while serving customers. We all feel good when served well and chipotle has made it the place to be. They are quick and ready to serve customers all the time hence they make it easy for clients to get food easy and fast.
Secret Menu
They have a range of secret menus. Have you heard about “Quesarito?” It’s made by wrapping a quesadilla around a burrito, it’s just mouthwatering. Incredibly delicious! Other menus items include nachos, double wrapped burrito or a “Burritodilla”.
Their menu includes Burritos
Anything with a tortilla and Queso rocks. Who doesn’t want a burrito?! I can visit Chipotle anytime just to get myself one. They make it perfectly well and am sure am not the only one who is addicted to it. They ran a contest on Twitter and Facebook in early 2015 which was really a success and made people more aware of their burritos. In this contest they offered a chipotle dinner for the best twenty burrito themed Haikus that customers could come up with. This was decided by the number of likes, shares, and retweets.