Some recent problems in Chipotle-land:

The Food Poisoning Law Blog is reporting (and, in my opinion, trying to build up clients) on a potential Hepatitis A outbreak at a Chipotle in La Mesa, California.

That comes right on the heels of the “gastrointestinal illness” at the Kent State, Ohio, Chipotle location.

Which comes right on the heals of all the press coverage when Chipotle teamed up with polyface farms.

So…yikes? Is this just bad luck/timing and a natural occurrence when you run over 600 restaurants? Is this a sign of dropping quality as the chain expands so quickly?

NOTE: This is a followup to my earlier post about a personal tour of destination evans. The tour happened back in early October of 2007.

The Chief and the Photo

On the wall of the original chipotle (and many, if not all the other restaurants) is "The Chief". You could make up all sorts of ideas about how he guards over the quality of the food, or the Food with Integrity program or what have you. The bottom line is, that it's more of the cool maya-industrial art and now, much like the store is "Destination Evans" the chief gets to have his own name - at least as far as my tour guide Dave Hawkins is concerned.

Most Chipotle's have a photo of "Chipotle #1" on the wall. At Destination Evans itself they have photos on the walls, but the photo of their own location is from when it was a Dolly Madison restaurant. I need to double check the situation, but while I've heard that this is the only location that doesn't have a photo of "Destination Evans" on the wall I think there are others.

You can see the chief on the wall in the somerville chipotle which I visited recently.

Guacamole seasons

There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle about “fan sites” on the Chipotle Wikipedia page. Some people think they don’t belong there, some do. Well, here’s an alternate solution. Forget wikipedia. Let’s have an alternate list of all the great fan sites and tools that exist for people.

General Chipotle Fan Sites

The first Chipotle Fan Site I know of was Chipotle Lovers.com. This was a project by a few college fans who loved Chipotle. Sadly, it appears that when they left college their interest in the site waned. The forum has returned errors for a few years now. It does have a great Potle Pics section and List of locations.

The ChipotleFan.com site is another great resource. I really like their burrito generator and their blog is getting off the ground with some great posts.

And, of course, this site

Chipotle Diet Blogs

The original Chipotle Dieter (as far as I know) was Justin Hall who has expanded beyond just dieting into cost and environment saving ideas. He’s also a Master Burrito Ambassador

This photo was sent to me by a friend who took it outside of a restaurant in NYC. I imagine that the restaurant themselves paid for the art to be done - I don’t think many graffiti artists do corporate names for fun - but it’s still pretty cool.

With a big hat tip and promise of lunch on me to the big cheese from 3goose.

More on Chipotle marketing and business operations based on coverage from the Wall Street Journal.

My favorite bit of quotes:

Chipotle Mexican Grill has arguably become the country’s most successful fast-food chain in recent years by rejecting almost every major technique on which the industry was built. Not only does it not show the product, it doesn’t advertise on television. It doesn’t franchise. It has some of the highest ingredient costs in the industry. And its executives aren’t especially concerned that customers wait as long as 10 minutes in lines that routinely stretch out the door.

That’s classic “disruptive technology”. Most executives at “QSR” (quick serve restaurants) would have ignored Chipotle in 1993 dismissing it as too slow, too expensive, tiny margins and perhaps they still do today. Now it is a major competitor that Wendy’s and Jack In the Box (Baja Fresh and QDoba respectively) are trying—and failing—to copy.

Another interesting statistic:

The chain has videotaped as many as 50 people walking away from a single location in one hour because they weren’t willing to wait.

Given that they serve 100 people per hour during peak times, that is a real problem: a 50% decrease in sales during that time. I can only guess this is what has lead to chipotle delivery.

Another year, another free boorito. I just got the email and a spike of traffic to the site, so I know that folks in the US are getting excited about the Free Burrito at Chipotle this Wednesday. As a poor substitute - but the best I've got - I'm going to "California Burrito Company" here in Buenos Aires tonight for their $2 tacos. I haven't been yet, but I assure you I will compare because people have professed their similarities.

Since I'm in Argentina I decided to dig up the costume I made last year:

Space blanket: $1.50
White shirt from Target: $6.50
Free Chipotle Burrito: $free
Getting your wife to dress up like a Tabasco bottle: priceless

well, no, i live in denver and we have oodles of chipotle anywhere you go. however, this guy jeff sauer does need a chipotle near him and he’s done the research.

he has written probably the most well researched “i need a chipotle near me” that i have ever seen.

i can’t do it justice here by repeating things, but let me just say this:

4 maps representing geographic data that shows the dearth of chipotles in his immediate area and the strength of other similar chains.
8 photos that he took while scouting out potential locations.

chipotle, you need to open a store there and you should pay jeff for doing this research for you!

Editor’s Note:

i half-wrote this a while ago and just remembered to publish it now because, lo and behold Chipotle is finally opening a store in roseville! congratulations, jeff!