Justin Hall hit a milestone in his Chipotle Diet - 50 pounds of weight loss. Wow. That’s really amazing both in terms of the number and that he gets to eat food that he likes.
The most interesting part of his chipotle diet FAQ as far as I’m concerned:
Common Question #10: So why don’t you try to get Chipotle corporate to sponsor you?
Answer: You think I haven’t tried? Like a billion times. They say that they do not want to follow the same marketing concepts put forth by Jared and Subway. Therefore, I need help differentiating myself in hopes that one day I can be paid to eat burritos.
Frankly, I think that’s a good call on Chipotle’s part even though I obviously wish that they would sponsor a few of their super fans (like me!). Everybody wants to be the “Jared of ChainX” now that Jared made his money. I don’t think it makes sense for other chains to follow suit with that. In Chipotle’s case they don’t even do do traditional human based advertising anyway.
read the feed
Chipotle Sponsorship
Disclaimer on this post. I did not start the diet in hopes of becoming the next Jared for Chain X. I, like many others, were skeptical at first that eating giant burritos would even work in terms of weight loss. However, when my co-worker decided to tell the local news story about me losing 40 pounds and they decided to do a story on me, I thought maybe this was a bigger deal than I originally thought. On top of that, everyone I talked to about this diet would think that this diet would cause me to go up in weight. My results proved otherwise That is when I decided to pursue sponsorship via Chipotle. And I don’t do things half ass. So pursue I did. Emails back and forth among Joe, Ken, Dawn, and Lyn. And they shot me down every time.
However, look at the facts. There are a lot of people out there that still doesn’t realize that Chipotle food is organic. A lot of people. Trust me, I’ve had to break the news to several people. Secondly, Chipotle has the lowest advertising budget than any other restaurant chain out there. Their means of communication is via billboards and radio. Hence, you have never seen a Chipotle commerical on TV. ‘Food With Integrity’ campaign seems like they are trying to ‘position’ themselves as this niche food joint in which you can get full and eat healthy at the same time. Hence, I feel I would be a perfect fit. Let the marketing guys come up with a way to make me sound different than Jared.
However, the responses back from Chipotle make it sound like they are ‘positioning’ themselves as this Free Thinker, ‘Snapple’ sort of brand in which popularity comes via word of mouth. Hence, no need for advertising. Although, I’m fitting perfectly into this model right now with my own promoting of the chain via news stories and websites and they don’t even have to pay me.
Regardless, if I get sponsored or not. I’ve seen results, I’ve been healthier then I ever have, and I’m having fun losing weight. Not to mention, my results have to be right up there with the Atkins and South Beach Diet. Plus it has to be comparable in costs to Jenny Craig. I spend $140/month on burritos. Why not try to get some of that comped? Who else wouldn’t love to get paid to eat Chipotle burritos for a living. Seriously!! Knock me down if you like Greg, but my intentions were always weight loss first.
great insights
So, this comment is full of great insights and I really enjoyed it up until the last line where I realized that it must have felt to Justin like I was making fun of him. Quite the opposite. We emailed and he’s my new BFF, though, so it’s all good.
What did you order?
What did you order?
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