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Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

bloomberg.com

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Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#21

Post by AmVess »

degenerate wrote: post #6

Step 1: Reduce food quality to cut costs Step 2: Come out with stupid names of rehashed food ideas Step 3: Spend all new profits from low-quality food ideas on HEAVY MARKETING of newer, lower-quality food ideas Step 4: If (Chipotle != Taco Bell) Go to 2 Step 5: Exit

Revisit this post in a year, and I'd not be surprised to see that it was correct. Turn Chipotle into an upscale version of Taco Bell and market the pants off of crappy food and sit back and watch profits grow.

Chipotle can't really compete with restaurants that actually serve good food, so why not fill the giant divide between them and Taco Bell?

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#22

Post by jey »

spike021 wrote: post #10
tyingq wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the Taco Bell CEO gets the nuance, but if your expertise is slogging low cost / low quality ingredients...it's not obvious you're the person to solve an issue with a company struggling with high-end intentions, but low-quality results. Ever been to a Chipotle? The warning about pork carnitas is pretty off-putting. They basically say you're rolling the dice based on past performance.

What warning about pork carnitas?

This one: https://twitter.com/byjayroot/status/809485903051812864

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#23

Post by ianleeclark »

AmVess wrote: post #21
degenerate wrote: post #6

Step 1: Reduce food quality to cut costs Step 2: Come out with stupid names of rehashed food ideas Step 3: Spend all new profits from low-quality food ideas on HEAVY MARKETING of newer, lower-quality food ideas Step 4: If (Chipotle != Taco Bell) Go to 2 Step 5: Exit

Revisit this post in a year, and I'd not be surprised to see that it was correct. Turn Chipotle into an upscale version of Taco Bell and market the pants off of crappy food and sit back and watch profits grow. Chipotle can't really compete with restaurants that actually serve good food, so why not fill the giant divide between them and Taco Bell?

I'm sad to say I find it to already be that.

Every Saturday during college I would go to Chipotle. It was amazing--especially for the price. I've tried recently in the past, but ever since the e-coli issues, the food has greatly gone down in quality.

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#24

Post by jrs95 »

benatkin wrote: post #19

Like with Starbucks, it was the individual employees, their kindness, and their appreciation for the product that made Chipotle special for me during their non-mediocre years. I liked Starbucks the most in about 2006 and Chipotle the most at around 2010. It's too bad they're mediocre now. They still both feel magical occasionally, though. I'm not sure whether they compromised the product or the culture first.

The culture may have largely declined by their pay not rising as the pay in fast food did. At least in my area, McDonald’s and Wendy’s pay as much if not more than Chipotle for an entry level position.

Edit: I get that this was probably more about the corporate culture as a whole, but working conditions and pay at the store level is equally as important in terms of customer experience in my opinion. 5 years ago when I went to a Chipotle, the workers there seemed happy. Now when I go, they clearly aren’t.

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#25

Post by twoodfin »

joezydeco wrote: post #16
slg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also doesn't mention that Chipotle's first big period of expansion was while it was owned by McDonalds. I have to imagine that McDonalds had an expertise in this area that at least matched Taco Bell if not greatly exceeded them.

McDonald's did indeed help Chipotle get their logistical systems in order. CMG and MCD still share some common suppliers. One area where Chipotle resisted McD's advice was in automating their kitchen systems. One example was the steak. CMG believed hand-marinating and grilling their steaks in-store was a core feature that couldn't be changed. It's also a highly risky procedure when it comes to food safety and cross-c…

And alas the barbacoa at least hasn’t been half as good as when it was store prepared.

I understand why Chipotle has shifted focus so dramatically to food safety, but they’ve taken their eye off the ball on quality. My local shop has even had trouble getting the formerly routinely delicious rice cooked properly. I assume this is because of demands for a much tighter preparation schedule and serving window.

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#26

Post by jdavis703 »

joezydeco wrote: post #16
slg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also doesn't mention that Chipotle's first big period of expansion was while it was owned by McDonalds. I have to imagine that McDonalds had an expertise in this area that at least matched Taco Bell if not greatly exceeded them.

McDonald's did indeed help Chipotle get their logistical systems in order. CMG and MCD still share some common suppliers. One area where Chipotle resisted McD's advice was in automating their kitchen systems. One example was the steak. CMG believed hand-marinating and grilling their steaks in-store was a core feature that couldn't be changed. It's also a highly risky procedure when it comes to food safety and cross-c…

Why is it so hard for a fast food chain to avoid cross-contamination vs. other restaurants? Is it because they don't train workers properly?

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#27

Post by bri3d »

AmVess wrote: post #21
degenerate wrote: post #6

Step 1: Reduce food quality to cut costs Step 2: Come out with stupid names of rehashed food ideas Step 3: Spend all new profits from low-quality food ideas on HEAVY MARKETING of newer, lower-quality food ideas Step 4: If (Chipotle != Taco Bell) Go to 2 Step 5: Exit

Revisit this post in a year, and I'd not be surprised to see that it was correct. Turn Chipotle into an upscale version of Taco Bell and market the pants off of crappy food and sit back and watch profits grow. Chipotle can't really compete with restaurants that actually serve good food, so why not fill the giant divide between them and Taco Bell?

Step 1 already happened, but for food safety consistency reasons. The meats are prepared off-site and shipped now, and more ingredients are frozen. The reduction in flavor quality was obvious.

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#28

Post by jeffdubin »

joezydeco wrote: post #16
slg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also doesn't mention that Chipotle's first big period of expansion was while it was owned by McDonalds. I have to imagine that McDonalds had an expertise in this area that at least matched Taco Bell if not greatly exceeded them.

McDonald's did indeed help Chipotle get their logistical systems in order. CMG and MCD still share some common suppliers. One area where Chipotle resisted McD's advice was in automating their kitchen systems. One example was the steak. CMG believed hand-marinating and grilling their steaks in-store was a core feature that couldn't be changed. It's also a highly risky procedure when it comes to food safety and cross-c…

2019 = Order via speech recognition

2020 = Automated kitchen systems prepare ingredients

2021 = Burrito preparation via robotics

2021 = End-to-end order fulfillment without human involvement

Just a matter of time before raw ingredients are lab grown and harvested by robots. Not too long ago, this was pure fantasy. Only now is it starting to look inevitable, for better or for worse.

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#29

Post by e_b »

jeffdubin wrote: post #28
joezydeco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonald's did indeed help Chipotle get their logistical systems in order. CMG and MCD still share some common suppliers. One area where Chipotle resisted McD's advice was in automating their kitchen systems. One example was the steak. CMG believed hand-marinating and grilling their steaks in-store was a core feature that couldn't be changed. It's also a highly risky procedure when it comes to food safety and cross-c…

2019 = Order via speech recognition 2020 = Automated kitchen systems prepare ingredients 2021 = Burrito preparation via robotics 2021 = End-to-end order fulfillment without human involvement Just a matter of time before raw ingredients are lab grown and harvested by robots. Not too long ago, this was pure fantasy. Only now is it starting to look inevitable, for better or for worse.

It's still pure fantasy.

Re: Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head

#30

Post by ac29 »

jdavis703 wrote: post #26
joezydeco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonald's did indeed help Chipotle get their logistical systems in order. CMG and MCD still share some common suppliers. One area where Chipotle resisted McD's advice was in automating their kitchen systems. One example was the steak. CMG believed hand-marinating and grilling their steaks in-store was a core feature that couldn't be changed. It's also a highly risky procedure when it comes to food safety and cross-c…

Why is it so hard for a fast food chain to avoid cross-contamination vs. other restaurants? Is it because they don't train workers properly?

Other restaurants have food-borne illness problems occasionally too, but when you have thousands of locations it makes national news.
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