As most of you have probably heard, there is a some what healthy and sustainable fast-food chain in town called…. CHIPOTLE! They market themselves as an organic fast food chain that purchases grass and free run beef, and only use fresh local produce when they can. They are a healthy alternative to other fast food industry giants, and they place a large emphasize on choosing wholesome ingredients and encouraging consumers to make informed choices on what they are eating and how it affects the food system.
Let’s talk about what they are doing right:
1. Awareness is a huge issue, and Chipotle is tackling this issue head on by it’s video campaigns showing the impacts we are making on our environment by choosing the foods we are eating.
Here is a video of one of their marketing campaigns, they received a lot of positive press and had over 1.9 million views!
Chipotle’s Scarecrow Commercial
2. They are making a positive influence on the industry. With being #18th largest fast food player in the US market, they probably have a large impact on its suppliers. So by supporting local farmers, and responsibly raised beef, chicken and pork they perhaps are encouraging more suppliers to change their ways of operating and farming.
3. They keep driving home the message through lots of campaigning, through some very popular youtube commercials which have gone viral and they have even released a video campaign called “Farmed and Dangerous,” a comic series that satirically explores the world of industrial agriculture in America. This is something that Chipotle does extremely well in– informing while entertaining if you can call it that.
However, despite Chipotle’s best efforts in making a change, there has been a lot of critics depicting their marketing tactics. Is it really to change the agriculture industry? Is it to hop on the sustainability trend , or encourage consumers to (again the main topic we talk about in all our classes)– TO CONSUME more. Are they really casually suggesting their product as a substitute, or rather wanting consumers to start consuming their product, who would have not thought to before.
There was also a time when the responsible beef supply was low, and in order to keep up to demand , 20% of the company’s beef came from producers that typically use GMO-based feed, antibiotics, growth hormones, feedlots, and all the other unsavoury aspects of industrial animal agriculture— ALL ASPECTS that Chipotle claims to rise above and condemns as loudly as anyone else on others who participate in it.
Chipotle is another industry giant- who’s main concern is PROFITS. And since they are such a big company with over 1.85 billion in sales in North America, you need to remember that their main goal is to increase profit, whether it be to decrease costs or cut another area of their company.
Their spokesperson Danielle Winslow claims that ” [Chipotle’s] first priority is to accommodate our customers”—AKA do whatever it takes to supply all ingredients at full capacity all the time, so essentially they will use organic produce when it best suits them and their business needs.
Sure they are spreading awareness about the problems in the food system, but doing so with a smile on their face, and with pockets nice and full. I doubt they would continue their activities if it detracted away from sales.
To conclude, Chipotle Food Chains make somewhat of an effort to increase awareness about this issue, make a change in the products they offer to consumers more sustainable and environmentally better options than competitors, but as long as it profits them in the long term.
A for effort chipotle, A for effort. And A for seeming like you care, A for bringing up the issue. B for sacrificing your integrity to keep up sales, B for encouraging people to consumer your product when it is not needed.
Pros cons to everything, What do you guys think??
Sources:
http://www.psmag.com/environment/chipotle-mexican-grill-fast-food-beef-sustainable-agriculture-67867/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/01/28/chipotle-satirizes-industrial-agriculture-in-farmed-and-dangerous/
http://www.qsrmagazine.com/reports/top-50-sorted-average-sales-unit
Hey Kelly, Chipotle is definitely one of the pioneers in adapting sustainable means of sourcing their ingredients in the fast food category. It doesn’t seem like a very feasible strategy simply because the demand for raw ingredients is too high, and the supply might not be sufficient.
Their current strategy seems to be working for now, and I agree that they need more efforts in raising awareness for this. In fact, A&W is slowly adapting to this strategy as well. We actually did a brand audit for this company for brand management, and we found that only 30% of their customers (in Vancouver only) are aware that they are practicing sustainable sourcing of food. It’s actually quite a fascinating find because there is a sign right in front of the menu and the entrance door, and people are still not aware of it. We compared that to non-customers and the awareness level is about 30% as well.
Raising awareness is definitely an area they need to work on. Historically, they have allocated a very small portion of their budget towards marketing because they rely heavily on word-of-mouth. Another problem that needs attention is finding a stable source of their meat and produce, as you have mentioned.
One thing I would like to point out is sustainable does not mean it’s healthy. It creates a halo effect for Chipotle, which is good for them. Their website indicates the calorie count of their burritos. Most, if not all, of their dishes are worse than a Big Mac in terms of calorie count. In essence, I can buy an organic and sustainably sourced chicken, but cooking it with butter and lard won’t make it healthy.
Great read!