Chipotle Case Study

What do they sell?

ENVIRONMENT

INGREDIENTS

Early Years

“Every choice we make—about who we work

with, what we serve, and what we stand for—

affects the bigger picture: the health of the

planet. Nutrient-rich soil reduces the need for

pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, buying locally

reduces vehicle emissions from transportation,

and humane animal husbandry means diminished

reliance on antibiotics. As we strive each day to be

better, we keep in mind that everything is

connected.” Chipotle

• Partnered with farmers, ranchers and other suppliers whose practices emphasize

quality and responsibility.

• We partner with farms that prioritize

the long- term health of their land.

• They only use pasture-raised animals that have enough room to be animals.
• No nontherapeutic antibiotics and synthetic hormones.

• Steve Ells, the creator, Co-CEO, and Chairman of Chipotle Mexican Grill.

• Under Ells direction, the restaurant started serving what it describes as “naturally raised meat” and arguably encourage sustainable agriculture.

• Chipotle opened its first restaurant in 1993, the idea was simple: show that food served fast didn't have to be a “fast-food” experience

The Life & Times of Chipotle

1993: First Chipotle in Boulder, Colorado

1998: McDonald's purchase first minority stake in Chipotle

Marketing

1999: Chipotle expands to 37 locations

2000: Venture into organic and sustainable ingredients

2008: International expansion into Canada

2010: Chipotle goes to London

• Real ingredients.
• Simple, fresh, no artificial flavors or fillers.
• Raw Ingredients sourced from farms not

factories.

Chipotle's marketing strategy

is to replace traditional advertising

with emotionally engaging stories

to make the customers to get more

interested in the food.

“When faced with a choice between

serving conventional pork

or nothing at all,

we choose to not serve carnitas at all.”

The chain is well-known for its emphasis on “responsibly raised meat” especially pork, requiring pigs to be raised with outdoor access and without the use of antibiotics

Chipotle's weakness

Customers

• The CEO stated that Chipotle’s customers are Millennials who would “skip fast food in favor of restaurants like Chipotle.”

GOODBYE GMO'S!

• In 2013 Chipotle was the first national restaurant chain to disclose the presence of GMO’s in their food.

• In 2015 Chipotle switched to serving non- GMO food.

• Millennials are people between the ages of 23

and 36, and there are 59 million of them in the

United States. That’s about 20% of the US population.

• For the past year and a half, the brand has been involved in multiple issues

regarding their ingredients.

Carnitas

• In early 2015, Chipotle stopped serving carnitas in many of their restaurant.
• This shortage occurred because their animal welfare auditors found out that one of their suppliers to be violating some of Chipotle’s core animal welfare standards.

Reports to E. Coli

The first of these outbreaks occurred in Washington and Oregon where the chain voluntarily closed nearly 43 locations while it launched an investigation. 52 people in nine states were sickened with E. coli and although the CDC has not determined the ingredient responsible, 47 said they had eaten at a Chipotle before they got ill.

Salmonella Outbreak

22 Chipotle Mexican Grill locations in Minnesota were the source of the recent Salmonella which sickened 64 people and hospitalized nine of them.

“Blame it on the tomatoes, don’t blame it on me”

It is believed that tomatoes served at 22 Chipotle Mexican Grill locations were the source of the recent outbreak

Chipotle Case Study

“Local does not automatically mean safe”

In 2008, when Chipotle announced that it would purchase more locally raised produce, nutritionists cautioned the public by saying that they are all for local food, as long as someone is checking to ensure the microbiological safety of fresh produce.

Blame it on the freshness?

Bitter-sweet news

Chipotle has since switched tomato suppliers and the product has been removed from stores, according to MDH.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Department of Health expects to see additional cases since Salmonella can take up to 10 days for symptoms to appear.

“We may be at a higher risk for foodborne illness outbreaks than some competitors due to our fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation”

By Alejandra Calvo

Samantha Colombo, Duke Locke and Flavia Brizuela

How Government Responds to Food Illness Outbreaks​

• Local agencies: Most food-borne outbreaks are local events. Public health officials in just one city or

county health department investigate these outbreaks.​

• State agencies: The state health department investigates outbreaks that spread across several cities or counties. This department often works with the state department of agriculture and with federal food safety agencies.​

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): For outbreaks that involve large numbers of people or

severe or unusual illness, a state may ask for help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC usually leads investigations of widespread outbreaks—those that affect many states at once.​

• Federal regulatory agencies: In the case of an outbreak of food-borne illness, these federal agencies work to

find out why it occurred, take steps to control it, and look for ways to prevent future outbreaks.

They may trace foods to their origins, test foods, assess food safety measures in restaurants and food processing facilities, lead farm investigations, and announce food recalls. ​

Chipotle Solutions

• The company has performed more than 2,500 tests of food, restaurant surfaces, and equipment, and all showed no sign of E. coli.
• It is testing fresh produce, raw meat, and dairy items (cheese and sour cream) prior to restocking restaurants and implementing additional safety procedures, and audits, in all of its 2,000 restaurants to ensure that robust food safety standards are in place.​
• The company is conducting additional deep cleaning and sanitization in all Chipotle restaurants nationwide.​
• Chipotle is enhancing internal training of employees.​
• It was confirmed that none of the company’s employees in the affected restaurants had E. coli. (Also, no Chipotle employees have had E. coli stemming from this incident.)​

FDA Notification Process

• Alert the public about which foods are causing illness, and ask the firm that produces them to remove them from the market.​
• Monitor recalls by the producers of illness-causing foods.​
• Identify how the food became contaminated – for example, on the farm, in processing, during shipment, or in storage.​
• Take necessary regulatory action, such as requiring changes in a food processing plant in which food became contaminated to eliminate the sources of contamination.