Chipotle Research Project (Research Paper Sample)

What should Chipotle Mexican Grill do to get better prospects?
Name
Institution
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Executive summary PAGEREF _Toc435879379 \h 3Background Chipotle Mexican Grill PAGEREF _Toc435879380 \h 3Chipotle Mexican grill Menu PAGEREF _Toc435879381 \h 4Main dishes PAGEREF _Toc435879382 \h 4Sides and Drinks PAGEREF _Toc435879383 \h 5Problem statement PAGEREF _Toc435879384 \h 5Background methodology PAGEREF _Toc435879385 \h 5Interview with Chipotle Grill customer service PAGEREF _Toc435879386 \h 8Customer surveys results PAGEREF _Toc435879387 \h 8Survey results PAGEREF _Toc435879388 \h 8Conclusions PAGEREF _Toc435879389 \h 14Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc435879390 \h 15References PAGEREF _Toc435879391 \h 16
Executive summary
There are two Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants on the UMN campus. The issue here pertains to what the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant can do so as to have better prospects in the very competitive fast food restaurant not only on campus but also worldwide. The issue is despite the company having distinguished itself with its healthy range of ‘fast food’ choices, it has not yet been able to catch up with more established and widely popular fast-food chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s.
This analytical research report seeks to look at several key aspects of the restaurant chain and assess whether there is anything that could be done to increase the firm’s market share so as to improve its profit margins. An interview with the staff at Chipotle Mexican grill and also with a former employee at the restaurant and a survey on a small number of randomly chosen Chipotle customers will help to point out the weak points and different ways of improving them and will also help to identify the restaurant’s strengths and the different ways which they can be enhanced to improve the firm’s business prospects. A cost benefit analysis will also be done on one of the recommendations for improvement. A summary of the findings will be given at the end together with several recommendations that should be considered for implementation at the firm.
Introduction
Background Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill is a restaurant chain that has been offering its clients healthy dining experiences since 1993. The restaurant chain is best known for its American-Mexican low-fat diet dishes, fresh foods and great organic ingredients. When Chipotle Mexican Grill was started its owners had a vision – to show that fresh and low-fat diet dishes could also be served in a ‘fast-food’ setting. In other words the owners wanted to show that healthy foods could also compete favorably in the ‘fast-food’ world. And it is evident that the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain has been able to achieve its vision and continues to offer a fast dining experience to its customers (Chipotle.com, 2015).
There are obviously quite a number of fast-food restaurants that are more popular or have a larger market share when compared with Chipotle and they include: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Domino’s, Burger King and McDonald’s. However, all of these fast food restaurant chains suffer from the same problem in terms of what they serve – they serve high calorie and high-fat dishes.
Utilizing organic high-quality produce and time-honored cooking styles, the restaurant managed to bring elements typical of the fine dining experiences to the fast-food industry. The interesting interior décor also sets the restaurant apart in terms of bringing an element of class. For more than twenty years, the restaurant has been devoted to using only the very best food ingredients they can with care not to harm the animals, the environment or farmers through their Food With Integrity commitment. This commitment has earned the restaurant chain a large number of loyal customers. It is the aim of this research to look into ways of improving processes or service at the restaurant or changing the restaurant’s pricing plan so as to find ways of increasing the firm’s loyal customer base (Chipotle.com, 2015).
Chipotle Mexican grill Menu
Main dishes: Soft flour tacos, soft corn tacos, crispy corn tacos, ‘bowl’, ‘kid’s menu and burritos.
Inside these dishes are organic tofu, barbacoa, and ‘responsibly raised’ beef and chicken depending on the main dish chosen. Rice, veggies and beans are some of the other ingredients of the different dishes served at Chipotle Mexican Grill.
There is also a wide array of chilies and creams that are used to top up the main dishes including: Guacamole, cheese, tomatillo green-chili salsa, tomatillo red-chili salsa, fresh tomato salsa and sour cream.
Sides and Drinks: Chips and Salsa, Chips and Guac, Margaritas and bottled soft and hard drinks (Chipotle.com, 2015).
Problem statement
This paper will be a recommendation report to the Chipotle Mexican Grill. Different people love different types of foods and creating a unique and innovative menu that can differentiate a restaurant from other fast-food restaurants is one of the keys to success in the fast food world. It is obvious that the Chipotle Mexican Grill has an innovative and unique menu, however, one of the problems that this company faces is that its diet is restricted to only a handful of main ingredients meaning that a significant portion of individuals who love other kinds of food have less choice of meals. Thus, this research looks into whether the addition of more food choices is a feasible solution for chipotle Mexican Grill, if they desire better business prospects.
Background methodology
For the purpose of doing this analysis I chose to interview customers, store managers at the east and west bank Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants and also service assistants at the restaurants including the attendant and the cashier. The customers who will be interviewed will be randomly chosen at the restaurants and will be asked about their suggestions, thoughts and opinions about Chipotle. Besides, a special self-prepared questionnaire will also be administered after the interview process. Different items that will be included in the questionnaire are: customers will be asked whether increase in food choices will increase their potential number of visits; and they will also be asked to rate how important fast service, cleanliness, fresh food, taste, healthy diet, and low-fat foods are to them.
For the interview with the Chipotle Mexican Grill East bank manager I will ask what are the company’s plans to diversify its menu and whether there are any plans of improving processes at the restaurant. Chipotle Mexican Grill Customer Service will be the most reliable source of information in terms of providing knowledge about the processes and decisions made by the company. Since every firm has its own processes, the interview will help provide plenty of useful bits of information. An online information search on the pertinent questions will also be done. Looking for answers in various high-quality sources will also help to offer indications on what trends the company’s potential customers would prefer.
Findings
According to Business Insider, there are several reasons why people would choose to eat at Chipotle Mexican Grill and not any of the other popular fast food restaurants such Domino’s, KFC, or McDonald’s (who by the way were formerly chipotle’s parent company). The reasons I am about to list apart from being reasons that individuals say attract them to the restaurant can also be seen as some of the areas that the company could invest more in so as to increase it business aspects. According to the Business Insider, the lines at Chipotle are faster. The restaurant is known for its fast moving lines which are a result of its employee management policies through which quicker employees are scheduled to serve individuals during peak hours. According to Brian Sozzi who is an equity strategist at Belus Capital Advisors who was interviewed by the magazine, lines at Chipotle Mexican Grill are becoming faster compared to other lines of fast food restaurants. This not only attracts customers but it also markets the firm as the satisfied customers spread the good news about faster services at the restaurant to their friends and other acquaintances (Lutz, 2015).
It has also been said that customer service at the restaurant is also better compared to customer service at other restaurant. Mr. Sozzi says that at Chipotle, one gets their food with a smile. The company was also noted as a being a better place to hang out according to the report by the Business Insider. The restaurant’s interior designs and its classy appeal give it a modern, warm and inviting atmosphere that is attracting more customers. In fact, Chipotle’s interior and exterior décors are so unlike normal fast-food restaurants in a classy way that they have been likened to coffee houses (Lutz, 2015).
One of the other reasons why ‘fast food’ customers would prefer to eat at Chipotle compared to the other restaurants is its healthy range of foods. The company prides itself in preparing food using only responsibly raised meat. The restaurant’s strong commitment to use only the best of high-quality fresh organic ingredients also attracts customers to its tables. Another thing is that attendants at Chipotle prepare food right in front of the customers. This enables not only the customers to learn about food preparation at the firm but it also enables them to make suggestions about what should be added more or not added to their plates thus increasing the satisfaction outcome of using the rest...