"Food With Integrity" isn't a marketing slogan. It's not a product line of natural and organic foods. And it's not a corporate initiative that will ever be finished or set aside to make room for other priorities. It's a philosophy that we can always do better in terms of the food we buy. And when we say better, we mean better in every sense of the word- better tasting, coming from better sources, better for the environment, better for the animals, and better for the farmers who raise the animals and grow the produce.
The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal. And, since embracing this philosophy, it's had tremendous impact on how we run our restaurants and our business. It's led us to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country, to push for more sustainable practices in produce farming, and to work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones from their operations.
It's even influenced the way we view other aspects of our business, from the materials and systems we use to design and build our restaurants, to our staffing and training programs.
We like the food we serve today. And, because of our Food With Integrity philosophy, we're confident that we'll like it even more down the road.
When I opened the doors to the first Chipotle near the University of Denver in 1993, I didn't have a grandiose political statement in mind. Just the opposite, really.
What I wanted to do was simple: apply the techniques I had learned at the Culinary Institute of America and in professional kitchens into making great tasting burritos and tacos with the best ingredients I could find. Price them reasonably and serve them up in a hip, friendly, casual environment.
The concept seemed to me straight forward and altogether needed. Done well, it would let me show that food that was made fast didn't have to be like typical fast-food.
Of course it never occurred to me that someday we'd have hundreds of restaurants, and that each would strive to offer people something a little better.
One of the reasons I've always loved cooking is that it challenges me as much as it pleases me. I'm always looking for ways to improve upon what I've done.
For years, it bothered me that our carnitas didn't taste how I wanted them to. They weren't bad, but I knew they could be better. I tinkered with the recipe, but it still wasn't what I wanted.
One day I was reading acclaimed food writer Ed Behr's newsletter, The Art of Eating. In it he wrote about Niman Ranch and Paul Willis, a farmer in Thornton, Iowa who ran his hog farming program and raised pigs the old-fashioned way. The way it was done for many years before factory farms grew prominent in the 1960s and 70s.
The pigs Behr wrote about got to frolic in open pasture or root in deeply bedded barns. They weren't given antibiotics. The farmers who raised them truly cared about the welfare - and well-being - of the animals in their care.
In short, these farmers relied on care rather than chemicals, and practiced animal husbandry the way their parents and grandparents had, and their parents and grandparents before that.
Sometimes, moving forward means taking a few steps back.
After I read Behr's article, I knew that the trouble with our carnitas wasn't the recipe. It was the commodity pork we had been using.
The majority of pigs in this country are raised in extremely inhumane conditions. Often, thousands of pigs are crowded into a single confined facility, known as a CAFO or Confined Animal Feeding Operation.
Many of them spend their days in crates that don't allow them enough room to turn around. Some are housed together in group pens, but in quarters that are still so cramped they can't exhibit their normal tendencies. Animals are more prone to disease in confinement, so they are typically given antibiotics for most of their lives.
Learning about this dark side of modern agriculture made me want to find out how we could do things differently. So I got on a plane to Iowa to visit the Niman Ranch hog farms, including Paul Willis's. And that was where my own revelation took place. It was clear to me visiting Paul's farm that his way of raising pigs was a better way to do it. That's what I wanted for Chipotle.
In 2001, we began buying our pork from family farms like Paul's that raise pigs humanely and without antibiotics.
We call this return to old school animal husbandry naturally raised, and it's an essential part of our larger Food With Integrity mission to source the highest quality ingredients from the best sources. And, in the process, to help create a more sustainable food chain that emphasizes the welfare of people, animals, and the land.
Today, in addition to all of our pork, nearly 60 percent of our chicken and more than 40 percent of our beef is raised in this way. And someday soon, all of the meats we serve will be naturally raised.
It was very gratifying for me to read a recent interview with Ed Behr in which he said that the best thing to come from anything he had ever written had been the article on Niman Ranch and Paul Willis for how it influenced Chipotle to buy naturally raised pork. Indeed, Behr's article inspired us to use our size to fashion a more sustainable agriculture through Food With Integrity. And it led directly to Chipotle buying more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country.
I never aimed to be an activist for family farms or sustainable agriculture, but I'm proud of the change we've helped to achieve. The vision I started out with at our first Chipotle has never dimmed. In fact, it has grown from meeting people like Paul Willis, whose own vision exemplifies the kind of change Food With Integrity is all about.
Food With Integrity is our mission, but we know that at the end of the day, we can't judge our own integrity. That's for our customers to decide. So all I can say is that we are still leading from what we believe is right, and constantly striving to improve the way we do things.
Steve
hy romaine lettuce when iceberg will do? Why trod the muddy fields of Iowa to see how pigs are raised? Why toast the cumin before you grind it? Why cumin, indeed?
The reasons are as simple as better-tasting burritos, and no less ambitious than revolutionizing the way America grows, gathers, serves and eats its food.
Doing all these things better, from start to finish, is our mission. We call it Food With Integrity. It energizes everything we do in our restaurants and behind the scenes. It cannot be captured in a food bite, or a sound byte. So read on.
Let's begin by dismissing the myth that freshness alone means superior food quality. Is it important? Of course. But freshness, at Chipotle, is simply a given. In the unending pursuit of quality food, using fresh ingredients is where you start, not where you finish.
At Chipotle we have a very focused menu. Our customers like that, and it gives us the opportunity to concentrate on every single ingredient that makes up our recipes.
Food With Integrity means working back along the food chain. It means going beyond distributors to discover how the vegetables are grown, how the pigs, cows and chickens are raised, where the best spices come from. We learn how these factors affect the flavor of the finished product. And what we can do to improve it.
Take our carnitas, for example. In pursuing new sources of pork, we discovered naturally raised pigs from a select group of farmers. These animals are not confined in stressful factories. They live outdoors or in deeply bedded pens, so they are free to run, roam, root and socialize. They are not given antibiotics.
Consequently the pork they produce has a natural, moist, delicious flavor. We think it tastes better and is better for you. Our customers love it. And because they do, we buy all we can. By creating a market for meats raised in a healthier environment, we make it worthwhile for these farmers to raise even more. That's how Food With Integrity works for everyone.
Today we're doing the same with new sources of chicken, beef, beans, avocados and even lettuce. We'll be doing it with every item that goes into our menu.
Food With Integrity is not a fad. It has been part of Chipotle since we started in 1993. Its importance has grown as we have grown. And make no mistake, growth can be good. Our size helps us influence the decisions of our suppliers. And it lets us shoulder our way into the consciousness of the American eating public. Like we're doing now. Our size means we can change for the better the way more people eat.
What does all this mean for you? In the short term it means better-tasting tacos and burritos. If you have been with us for several years you will have already noticed a difference. Looking forward, it means encouraging growers to pursue humane and healthy practices, and rewarding farmers who eschew mass production in favor of quality. It means new and higher expectations from all of us about what we consume every day.
Have we achieved our mission? No. Will we ever accomplish it? Never, because Food With Integrity is a constant process of searching and improving. But the changes will be noticeable, positive and significant. And you're part of making it happen, every time you come in.
Thanks.
Further Reading
· Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma
· Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation
"Food With Integrity" isn't a marketing slogan. It's not a product line of natural and organic foods. And it's not a corporate initiative that will ever be finished or set aside to make room for other priorities. It's a philosophy that we can always do better in terms of the food we buy. And when we say better, we mean better in every sense of the word- better tasting, coming from better sources, better for the environment, better for the animals, and better for the farmers who raise the animals and grow the produce.
The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal. And, since embracing this philosophy, it's had tremendous impact on how we run our restaurants and our business. It's led us to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country, to push for more sustainable practices in produce farming, and to work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones from their operations.
It's even influenced the way we view other aspects of our business, from the materials and systems we use to design and build our restaurants, to our staffing and training programs.
We like the food we serve today. And, because of our Food With Integrity philosophy, we're confident that we'll like it even more down the road.
Chipotle Mexican Grill originated in Denver, Colorado in 1993. The founder, Steve Ells, still serves as chairman and CEO. He got started in the Mexican food industry after getting a job as a line cook at a restaurant called Stars in San Francisco. He attended the Culinary Institute of America.[1] Over 500 restaurants have since opened throughout the United States. Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants are company-owned, rather than franchised. In 1997, McDonald's made an initial minority investment in Chipotle Mexican Grill. By 1999, it had grown to a controlling interest, and by 2005, it was 92%. The McDonald's connection allowed the firm to quickly expand, from 14 restaurants in 1998 to 480 at the end of 2005.
On October 25, 2005, Chipotle initially filed for its IPO. On December 23, 2005 in an updated filing, Chipotle indicated the size of the offering would be approximately 6.3 million shares with a price of $15.50 to $17.50 per share. The price range was increased to $18.00 to $20.00 per share on January 23, 2006, an indication that the demand for the offering was strong. Morgan Stanley and SG Cowen led the offering. The public offering priced on January 25, 2006, at a price of $22 per share. The offering raised approximately $133M in primary capital to fund new store growth. McDonald's sold $66M, including the 15% greenshoe, which was exercised in full. On its first day as a public company, Chipotle stock rose exactly 100%, closing at $44.00 per share. On September 8, 2006 McDonald's Corp. announced it had started an offer for its shareholders to exchange McDonald's stock for shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill. The exchange will allow McDonald's shareholders to acquire Chipotle shares at a 10 percent discount. The offer is capped at a level of 0.9157 Chipotle shares for each McDonald's share exchanged owned by McDonalds Corporation. On October 13, 2006, McDonald's Corp. completed a tax-free swap of class B common stock in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), for its own common stock. McDonald's Corp. has now fully divested its investment in Chipotle.
Chipotle's menu consists of five types of items:
Burrito (filled with rice and either black beans or pinto beans)
Fajita burrito (a burrito with onions and green peppers sauteed in soy oil instead of beans)
"Burrito Bol" (burrito ingredients in a paper bowl, without any tortilla; suggested for people following low-carbohydrate diets)
Hard or soft tacos (no rice or beans unless asked for)
Salad (served with a container of chipotle-honey vinaigrette)
The above items come filled with one of the following items:
Chicken thighs marinated in a spicy chipotle pepper adobo and grilled
Carnitas (shredded pork) seasoned with thyme, bay leaves, juniper berries, and cracked pepper; seared and then braised; no hot pepper
Barbacoa (shredded beef) seared and then braised in chipotle pepper adobo with cumin, garlic, and other spices; mildly spicy
Steak marinated in a spicy chipotle pepper adobo and then grilled; lean, medium-rare, and somewhat spicy
Vegetarian (guacamole), guacamole is also available as an extra cost option with one of the other four fillings
Also any of the following can be added:
Cilantro-lime rice
Black beans
Pinto beans
Fresh tomato salsa (mild)
Tomatillo red-chili salsa (hot)
Tomatillo green-chili salsa (medium hot)
Roasted chili-corn salsa (medium)
Sour cream
Cheese
Guacamole
Romaine lettuce
Side items include:
Lime salted chips
Many of these items are gluten free though the flour tortillas for both the burritos and the small tacos contain gluten. The hot red salsa contains small amounts of gluten from distilled vinegar.
The price depends only on the meat ordered, with the exception of an extra charge for salads and an extra charge for guacamole on non-vegetarian orders.
Additionally, there are several so-called "secret items" not listed on the regular overhead menu. Some of these are listed on the children's menu, such as quesadillas, rice & beans bowl, or individual tacos. Other "secret items" are just combinations of existing ingredients like a sauce based on mixing a "to go" cup with half Tomatillo Red-Chili Salsa and half sour cream.
The exterior of a Chipotle in Orlando, Florida.Chipotle is also noted for its ability to handle fax orders, making it popular among office workers picking up lunch. In late 2005 Chipotle added the ability to order online using the moniker "DSL" or "Don't Stand in Line". As with faxed-in orders, those who have placed their orders online may skip to the front of the line to pay for their already-prepared food, as long as they have called to confirm their order previous to pick up, and allow 10 to 15 minutes to be prepared.
Latching on to popular health concerns, and keeping in line with their "Food With Integrity" mission statement, Chipotle uses several natural ingredients. To date, Chipotle has all natural chicken, in some markets, raised without antibiotics on a vegetable diet, naturally raised pork and beef. Chipotle advertises its support of family farms, such as Niman Ranch (a California "natural" meat producer that contracts with farms in the Midwest to raise pork and other livestock). Chipotle also has vegetarian and vegan offerings. The rice, black beans, fajita veggies, salsas, guacamole and cheese are vegetarian. Other than the meats, pinto beans (with bacon), cheese, sour cream and honey vinaigrette dressing, all other menu items are vegan. The cheese is processed with vegetable-based rennet, rather than the more commonly used animal-based version, in order to be suitable for vegetarians. Additionally the sour cream comes from cows that are not treated with rBGH.
A burrito from Chipotle can contain more than 1000 calories. Nutrition information was once available on Chipotle's website, but as of May 2007, it is temporarily unavailable. According to an email from the company, the information will return in the future once the company is able to meet New York City regulations regarding the disclosure of calorie information. You can still request a nutrition information sheet in the store or view a scanned version online