I wasn’t sure if the giveaway would be happening this year. 2 years ago I dressed up as a burrito and my partner as tabasco and it was pretty awesome. Good costume, good food, couldn’t be happier.

Given the fact that Chipotle seems to be reducing their free burritos I thought maybe this year they’d skip the Halloween Costume deal, but when I went to my local Chipotle yesterday I saw this sign.

Note: To get the free meal you have to come dressed as a burrito, taco, or bowl and you have to come in after 6pm.

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

My costume last year - first I went to Chipotle and got a free burrito. Then I went to a party and got a free hangover!

The best part of the party was later on in the night when it was time for the “naked burrito” which is what Chipotle used to call the “bol”.

Last week Chipotle had major canned food drives at many of their stores. It wasn't at 100% of the stores, but it was at a lot of them. This was hugely beneficial to their public image and also brought in lots of new people who had never tried Chipotle before. I'll bet that this will make a huge impact in same store sales starting in June.

Chipotle Free Burrito Coverage Online

From other blogs - Katies first post about Colorado included this nice tidbit:

2) chipotle: there are 7 within 10 miles of my house. the other day i waited over an hour in line with a can of green beans in hand....all for a glorious free burrito (and to make a donation). nothing tastes better than free chipotle.

I've read similar reports on lots of other sites. personally my free chipotle burrito that day didn't take very long in line to receive, but I went at 11:20.

Other folks were not so lucky - microgirl writes of her tale

Last Tuesday, Chipotle was giving away free burritos if you brought in canned goods. ellipsesbandit and I made plans to go get free food, but the line was loooong. We said, "to hell with that," and went to Wendy's. Later that night, the guys went up to Chipotle to get free food, and they offered to get me a burrito . I said if they could that would be great, but if not that was okay too. Just before I went to bed, I find a coupon on my desk for a free burrito. The restaurant ran out of food, and ended up giving coupons. The guys each got two ('cause they drove to different places) and Brad gave one of his to me.

We ate on the pearl street mall because the store was too busy. Literally. There were probably 100 people in line and 75 eating at the tables. It was crazy. The staff was working so hard - visibly in a mental zone to handle a day full of lines that big. I really have to commend them for their hard work.

The deal was - at this store and most across the nation - bring in a non-perishable food item and you get a burrito for free. Very compelling to me as a consumer and a nice thing for them to do in general.

The IPRA - Parks and Recreation News source has a post about chipotle sponsoring parks in Naperville.

In partnership with the Naperville Park District, Chipotle will hide 30 giant faux burritos in high-traffic community parks, near trails, and around sports complexes, and from June 8 until June 30, the hunt will be on. The individuals who find the shiny silver treasures will be rewarded with a plentiful bounty: free Chipotle food for a year.

Oh man do I want that. But 52 cards for free burritos - that wouldn’t last me 6 months much less a year.

Chipotle’s Marketing System

As I’ve discussed previously, Chipotle marketing is awesome! This is just another example in that. They’ve done a really fun thing that gets folks out in the park and associates fun times with both healthy living (parks and trails and such) and the chipotle brand. Well done, folks.

Since they sent me a free burrito I went all out and got the chicken with guacamole. ooooh - delicious! bug and i split this so the fact that it was enormous wasn’t a major problem.