Product Profile: Chipotle

 

INDUSTRY

food

Category

chain restaurants

product Profiled

Chipotle restaurants

 

H-Score

 

47

ranked 12th of 25 within the food industry

ranked 43rd of 76 overall

 

product description

 

Chipotle is a chain of fast casual restaurants with approximately 3,300 outlets across the US.(1) Chipotle restaurants serve burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, and salads with wholesome ingredients and without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.(2)

 

product use

 

Customers can purchase food by ordering at the counter or via a website or app. Customers can eat inside the restaurants or take their meals away. Delivery is also available to many customers via the Chipotle website or app.

 

who’s affected

 

Chipotle’s target market includes the general population. Chipotle has stated that half of Chipotle customers are either millennial or Gen Z.(3) Chipotle restaurants can be found in a variety of communities with menu prices accessible to individuals of most household income levels.

 
 

influence on health-related behaviors

 

EATING

slight negative influence

 

Chipotle serves fast-casual meals, which, broadly speaking, can be unhealthy. Researchers have found 70% of meals served at fast food, including fast-casual restaurants (not specific to Chipotle) to be of poor nutritional quality.(4)

In Building H’s analysis, Chipotle was found to have a modified Restaurant Nutrition Quality (RNQ) (5,6), score of 0.96. Of the 11 chain restaurants in the Index, the range of modified RNQ scores was 1.65 (best) to 0.50 (worst). Chipotle’s score placed it 2nd highest of the 11 restaurant chains we profiled. 

In terms of calories, featured meal combos averaged 1,465 calories, or 2.6 times the recommended calories for women at lunch, 1.9 times the recommended calories for men at lunch, 2.2 times the recommended calories for women at dinner, and 1.7 times the recommended calories for men at dinner.(7)

Chipotle has stated that its most popular menu item is the chicken bowl and its most popular beverage is the 22 ounce fountain beverage.(8)

Chipotle promotes additional consumption through the use of cross-selling in the ordering and checkout processes. Before a customer finishes checking out, Chipotle prompts them to add additional items, notably chips and guacamole.(9)

 

opportunities:

  • Feature healthier items more prominently in menu presentation and in recommendations.
  • Highlight healthy modifications or substitutions whenever possible.
  • Set default options of customizable meals to the healthiest options available.
  • Offer reduced portion size options.
  • Enable users to set preferences for calorie limits and/or how healthy they want their diets to be and then tailor their ordering experience and recommendations accordingly.
  • Do not recommend additional items after users pass a reasonable calories per person level.
 
 

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

neutral to slight negative influence

 

One way in which restaurants contribute to physical activity is how people arrive at them. Restaurants in walkable locations are more likely to get customers to walk or bike to them than restaurants located in car-dependent neighborhoods. Building H reviewed a sample of Chipotle locations and found that 50% were in either “most walkable” (22%) or “above-average walkable” (28%) neighborhoods. Fifty (50) percent were in “below-average walkable” (48%) or “least walkable” (2%) neighborhoods, using the US EPA’s National Walkability Index.(10)

An additional factor that affects physical activity is the presence of drive-thru windows, which enable customers to pick up meals without ever leaving their cars. Chipotle has stated that approximately 18% of Chipotle locations have drive-thru service available via Chipotlanes.(11) Unlike traditional drive-thru service, these pickup lanes require online pre-order and do not allow ordering at the drive-thru window.

 

opportunities:

  • Limit expansion of drive-thru service.
  • Consider neighborhood walkability and bikeability when selecting new locations.
 
 

Sleeping

neutral to slight negative influence

 

Studies have shown that eating within three hours before bedtime increases the likelihood of sleep disruption.(12)

Chipotle locations are typically open until 10:00 pm. Based on Google data about a sample of locations, it appears that approximately 2% of Chipotle’s activity takes place after 9:00 pm.(13)

Note that late night eating does not necessarily result in eating shortly before bedtime or extending into people’s sleep windows as there is diversity in daily schedules (due to reasons such as shift work).

opportunities:

  • Discourage ordering of caffeinated drinks in the evening.
 
 

Engaging Socially

neutral to slight positive influence

 

Eating in a restaurant can be a social experience, especially when one eats with family or friends. It is not clear how many of Chipotle’s customers eat in the restaurant in groups or take food out for groups.

A Building H analysis of Google data shows that the typical amount of time spent at approximately 20% of Chipotle locations sampled was at or above 20 minutes. This may suggest that many customers are staying to eat at these locations, while most customers at the majority of Chipotle restaurants are not staying to eat in the restaurant.(14)

Drive-thru service and delivery service would typically involve less social interaction. By serving online pre-orders only, Chipotle’s Chipotlane digital pickup lanes require even less social interaction than typical drive-thru service. Chipotle has stated that nearly 40% of revenue came from online orders, which includes delivery, drive-thru and pickup, in 2022.(15)

 

opportunities:

  • Focus on the dine-in experience in order to encourage more customers to eat in the restaurants.
    • Ensure adequate seating for eating in.
    • Add communal tables as seating options.
  • Limit kiosk or app-based automated ordering in order to promote more interaction among staff and customers.
  • Facilitate family style meals for both in-person dining and delivery or take-out orders.
  • Train staff at both counters and drive-thru windows to create moments of connection in their interactions with customers.
 
 

Getting Outdoors

neutral to slight positive influence

 

Providing outdoor seating can positively influence the amount of time that customers spend outdoors. Chipotle has stated that approximately 85% of Chipotle’s locations offer outdoor seating.(16)

The walkability of restaurant locations can influence the amount of time customers spend outdoors. The more walkable, the more likely it is that customers walk or bike to and from the locations and thus spend time outdoors. As noted above, 50% of Chipotle's locations were in either “most walkable” or “above-average walkable” neighborhoods, while 50% were in “below-average walkable” or “least walkable” neighborhoods.

 

opportunities:

  • Offer outdoor seating at even more restaurants.
  • Create robust outdoor play areas for families.
 
 
 

Notes

 

  1. Chipotle. Direct communication, November 2023.

  2. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. 2022 SEC Form 10-K and Annual Report, p. 3.

  3. Chipotle. Direct communication, August 2023.

  4. Junxiu Liu et al. Quality of Meals Consumed by US Adults at Full-Service and Fast-Food Restaurants, 2003–2016: Persistent Low Quality and Widening Disparities. The Journal of Nutrition. Volume 150, Issue 4 (April 2020), pp. 873–883.

  5. Iris Liu et al. A continuous indicator of food environment nutritional quality. MedRxiv. November 26, 2021.

  6. The RNQ is based on the ratio of nutrients recommended by dietary guidelines, e.g. protein and fiber, to ingredients whose consumption should be restricted, such as sugars, sodium and saturated fats, for the median menu item. Building H modified the RNQ by selecting the most featured menu items.

  7. Based on a Building H review of featured Chipotle “1-click” meal combos in September 2023, as compared with federal data on how Americans distribute their calories across meals (see Eliana Zeballos et al. Frequency and Time of Day That AmericansEat: A Comparison of Data From the AmericanTime Use Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. USDA Economic Research Service, Technical Bulletin Number 1954. July 2019) and federal dietary guidelines for moderately active adults (see U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. December, 2020, p. 140).

  8. Chipotle. Direct communication, August 2023.

  9. Sample online order via chipotle.com. October 10, 2023.

  10. Based on a random sample of 50 US locations. For the National Walkability Index, see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National Walkability Index: Methodology and User Guide. July 2023.

  11. Chipotle. Direct communication, August 2023.

  12. Nicola Chung et al. Does the Proximity of Meals to Bedtime Influence the Sleep of Young Adults? A Cross-Sectional Survey of University Students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Volume 17, Issue 8 (April 14, 2020), p.2677.

  13. Based on a Building H review of Google’s “popular times” data for a sample of 50 randomly selected Chipotle locations. July 2023.

  14. Based on a Building H review of Google’s data on how much time people typically spend at a location for a random sample of Chipotle locations. July 2023.