An Inside Look at Chipotle

In 1993, the first Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant (pronounced chi-POAT-lay) in Denver, Colorado was opened by CEO and founder, Steve Ellis after he received $165,000 in investments from a bank loan and his father (Pederson). Ellis, a Culinary Institute of America grad and former chef, started the company’s first restaurant to raise money needed to one day operate his own full-service restaurant (Berta). The company’s menu includes burritos, tacos, salads and burrito bowls (burritos without the tortilla) made with customers’ choices of pork, shredded beef, chicken, steak, beans, veggies, and burrito condiments (sour cream, salsa, etc.) (annual report). When Chipotle was first established, Ellis did not like the restaurant’s closed kitchen format because customers would often have to yell out their food orders to employees who cooked in the back of the building. This format did not accommodate customers’ needs for direct contact with employees and have full control over their own choice of ingredients within their meals as cooking staff could make a mistake on their orders because of mishearing. This compelled the founder to change the restaurant’s current format to an open kitchen design in which customers could actually see and choose ingredients that are fully prepared for ordering on a buffet assembly line while being able to directly speak face to face with employees (Pederson). A couple of years later, Chipotle opened a few more restaurants in the Denver area each generating $1 million in sales through word of mouth marketing and employing about 17 workers in each facility (Pederson). In 1998, McDonalds Corporation bought a minority stake in Chipotle as a way to boost their company sales since sales at their own rest...

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... illegal immigrants working within their restaurants. The company was forced by U.S. Department of Homeland Security to separate over 500 undocumented workers. The separation of over 500 employees negatively affected Chipotle’s store operations as most of their workers were immigrants compelling Moran to travel to Washington D.C. and convince members of congress repeal current immigration laws (Pederson). In better news, the company was able increase their stock and be inducted into S&P’s distinguished 500 stock index (Pederson)..By the end of 2012, the company owns more than 1200 stores in the U.S., Paris, France, Germany and the UK. The company also owns an Asian inspired restaurant called ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen in Washington D.C. Chipotle hopes to expand their ShopHouse restaurant concept to other areas including Los Angeles, California in the year 2013