I previously wrote about the Chipotle Star, a retail employee in Minnesota. He was kind enough to get in touch and answer some questions that I had about Chipotle. The following is a list of questions I’m most curious about and his answers. Really great stuff!

(this is part 2 of the interview - part 1 of interview with a chipotle star)

Starbucks is famous for placing an emphasis on getting to know the regular customers and knowing what their orders are. Does Chipotle place any such set of instructions on how to handle regular customers?

Well, Chipotle is almost like your little “neighborhood” restaurant, and if you come in for dinner often, we’ll recognize you. We have set crews so if you come in at the same time of day we’ll know who you are. We don’t get set instructions, but they want even the lowest of crew members to act as if we own the place and act as if we were managers ourselves. They want us to talk to customers when we’re wiping down some tables, ask them if the food is good, and if it isn’t, offer them a refund. Things like that, it makes the world go round.

Now that you’ve been an employee and a customer, is there anything you would change about the food or the way the food is served to customers?

Well, since so many people order the corn, I would probably switch it from a small container to a bigger one. Perhaps change the description of it too, since I really don’t find it how it can be medium at all. It’s as mild as the fresh tomato’s.

At many restaurants the staff will have special ways of mixing ingredients to make their favorite foods that are “not on the menu”. Have you noticed any similar unusual combinations of the foods at chipotle?

Oh yeah, for sure. Like a guy I know will get half a container of the tomatillo hot, and get some sour cream, and close the lid, then shake it up. It makes a almost orange color and it’s a great dip.

That and making combo’s with quesadillas, like putting cheese and sour cream, and a meat, then heating that up. The cheese and sour cream makes an interesting blend.

Oh and there’s always your quirky employees who smuggle in their own special hot sauce, which I find hilarious.

If you were in charge of the marketing at Chipotle, what would you change?

Nothing. The people at the Chipotle HQ are geniuses. Think about it, what’s the difference between say Burger King and Chipotle? Burger King makes a ton of ads and they rely on them to sell their food, Chipotle spends not even a dime on TV ads, they just have some random ads on the radio. Not only that, the radio ads aren’t even really ads, it’s just music and at the end they say something about Chipotle. Burger King will talk about how savory and mouth watering their burgers are; people will just do that for us. For us, people are the ads; it’s a word of mouth. They do the talking for us.

Similarly, if you were the head chef, what would you change in the food?

Maybe try to lower the grease content in the carnitas. That’s my only gripe, that and maybe make some “spicier” meats, like maybe make the barbacoa spicier?

Does your store use a tankless hot water heater? Time/light sensitive light switches? Waterless urinal? Recycling of glass or other trash materials?

I’m not sure about the tankless hot water heater, but we do have a time/light sensitive light switch. I didn’t even know that till today. I asked my manager if we can turn on the patio lights and apparently they are automatic, which is pretty sweet. We recycle of course, I don’t think it’s even possible a big place like Chipotle can go through without recycling, stuff like that shouldn’t even be legal. It’s our duty to take care of our planet.

How much freedom does your store manager have to run events or specials without having to check back with the corporate office? Who decides about programs like giving free burritos to an entire office?

Well I’m not a manager, but I know that it’s very easy to give out free meals to families and whatnot, not sure about offices. I’m pretty positive that it won’t be hard to do. Chipotle relies on managers to make the right decision, and not having to rely on the corporate office to make decisions like that. We’re about serving the customers, making you guys happy, and if it takes giving a free burrito away, what the heck, no biggie, it’s on us.