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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.: Strategy with a Higher Mission or Farmed and Dangerous?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Simpson, Sondra |
| Copyright Year | 2015 |
| Abstract | "Boycott Chipotle: My Farm is Not Dangerous" one blogger's headline read (Schmidt 2014). Another headline stated "Chipotle Unnecessarily Tears Down Agriculture to Build a Brand" and the article went on to ask "what kind of values would inspire a corporation to wage a smear campaign against America's farmers?" (Sheely, 2014). But was that what Chipotle had intended to do? The agricultural industry was responding to the "Farmed and Dangerous" webisode series developed, with Chipotle's backing, upon the heels of the brand's successful short films "Back to the Start" and "Scarecrow". The latter, a somewhat darker animated video, was a major piece of an integrated promotion that also included an iPhone/iPad video app and game. Both short films were entertaining, yet educational, videos introducing the concept of the dangers of industrial farming versus the benefits of naturally raised produce and meats on smaller family farms. Both ended with the message "Cultivate a Better World" and did not fully introduce the Chipotle brand until the last seconds of the videos. Although not backed by a traditional network or cable channel, the "Farmed and Dangerous" television series was co-produced by Chipotle and hulu.com. It was distributed in early 2014 through the Huffington Post, an online journal, and hulu.com, an online television and movie content delivery website, many young adults accessed to view their shows. The "Farmed and Dangerous" comedy, which starred Ray Wise of "Twin Peaks" and "RoboCop" fame, was about a public relations team required to create positive spin about the most negative aspects of industrial farming. The show featured over-the-top hijinks by nefarious spokespersons and ridiculous situations like cows that exploded after being fed money-saving petroleum-based feed. The satirical show was meant to uncover issues such as antibiotic overuse and fossil fuel dependence in food production. According to Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle's Chief Marketing Officer, "The idea here is that if people put really even a little bit more thought into where their food comes from, it's going to benefit Chipotle. It's a longer term play for customers" (Luckerson, 2014) Chipotle intended to find a vehicle to resonate with millennial consumers that would then, in turn, become evangelists, but did they intend to inflame their corporate stakeholders in the process? Company Background The first Chipotle was opened in 1993. Chipotle offered Mexican American fare with a focus on fresh ingredients and great taste. Steve Ells, Chipotle founder and Co-CEO, wanted fast food that was fresh and natural prepared on site. He pioneered a new kind of dining experience, coined "fast-casual" dining which combined fresh high quality food preparation with fast food affordability. In the growing "fast casual" segment of the dining market, customers expected food quality more in line with full-service restaurants, coupled with the speed and convenience of fast food. The segment had been growing at 11% (Trefis Team, 2014), a faster rate than the 1.1% year on year growth of the classic fast food segment of restaurants. (Patton, 2014) Chipotle restaurants were open seven days a week from 11am to 10pm for lunch and dinner with the same limited menu all day at each location. Chipotle did not franchise, but corporately owned and managed each restaurant, which were serviced by 22 corporate owned distribution centers strategically placed across the country. This allowed for tight quality control, which was important to the company's fresh and great tasting food values. The customer ordered by moving along a fresh assembly line of ingredients. They could pick whatever they wanted while a team member prepared the meal in front of them. Even with simplicity of the ordering process as a focus and the limited palette of menu items, customers had over 65,000 customization options. They could also purchase online, by mobile app and through a catering service. … |
| Starting Page | 38 |
| Ending Page | 59 |
| Page Count | 22 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 33 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.sfcrjcs.org/index.php/sfcrjcs/article/download/320/195 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
