We’ve been writing about secret menu items — those special fast food treats that a restaurant will make upon request but aren’t listed on the menu — for years, but we’ve never really broken down just why these items aren’t on the menu, and why that’s actually a good thing for these eateries. [More]
chipotle
Chipotle Doesn’t Mind Putting Baby In A Corner If You’re The Type To Shun Human Contact
By 2.25.13
Don’t want anyone looking at you during the very private act of eating a burrito, but hate the idea of taking your food to go? Chipotle has a fix for that. Or at least, one Chipotle location has a very special seating arrangement for those of us who would prefer to be forever alone. [More]
Enjoy That Chipotle Burrito While It’s Cheap(er): Prices Might Be Going Up This Year
By 1.18.13
If you happen to be in the midst of enjoying a Chipotle burrito with antibiotic-free meat and a dollop or two of sour cream, enjoy it, because it’s not gonna come cheap in the future. Not that Chipotle’s fare is cheap now, compared to standard fast food fare, but that “premium” level of ingredients costs the company a pretty penny and unfortunately, those costs are rising. [More]
Would Chipotle Be The Same With Drive-Thru Windows?
By 10.25.12
To many Chipotle customers, part of the reason for going to the restaurant chain is that you get to watch your burritos and bowls made to order right in front of you, but the company apparently needs to bring in new customers and thinks that adding drive-thru windows might help. [More]
If Chipotle Is Going To Round Numbers On Your Bill, It Should Only Round Down — From Now On
By 8.27.12
Have you looked at your Chipotle receipt recently? Some customers noticed a bit of funky math going on after paying for their burritos, tacos and various items from the chain, where totals seemed to mysteriously shift so as to not get pennies involved in the equation. Rounding off a bill is fine — unless of course, the bill gets rounded up. [More]
Chipotle Facing The Investigative Heat Over Its Compliance With Immigration Laws
By 5.23.12
Mexican fast food chain Chipotle announced yesterday that it’s the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors into the possibility that it violated criminal securities laws with its hiring practices. [More]
Chipotle Understands When Your Dog Eats Your Gift Card
By 1.11.12
John’s greyhound has no patience. If the dog had waited just a little while, the Chipotle gift card in a paper sleeve that his fianc√©e left on the kitchen table would have been magically transformed into food. But dogs don’t think that way, and this dog really, really likes to chew up paper. And so the $50 gift card was destroyed. [More]
Changing Over Chipotle Signs To Show Pork In Pinto Beans Will Take A Few Months
By 10.27.11
In late July, Chipotle garnered kudos after CEO Steve Ells called up a fan who had been Tweeting his displeasure at discovering that Chipotle’s pinto beans were cooked with pork. Ells pledged that the burrito chain would change all its menu boards to reflect the pork content. A few months later I walked into a Chipotle in Midtown and noticed their sign hadn’t changed. [More]
Chipotle & Willie Nelson Team Up For Animated Anti-Factory Farm Ad
By 8.31.11
In a combination we never would’ve thought would be so likable, Chipotle has enlisted the help of Willie Nelson covering a Coldplay song to make an animated piece that is anti-factory farming. [More]
Tweets Get Chipotle To Change Menus To Show Pinto Beans Cooked With Bacon
By 8.17.11
Both a diehard Chipotle fan and a person who doesn’t eat pork, Seth Porges was surprised to discover recently that the pinto beans he’d been eating for years from there are actually cooked with a little bit of bacon. Within two hours of emailing top execs and tweeting about it, he received a personal phonecall from Steve Ells, CEO of Chipotle. [More]
Study: One In Five Menu Calorie Counts Are Off By At Least 100 Calories
By 7.28.11
As restaurant chains begin rolling out menus with calorie counts, one has to wonder just how accurate that information is. A new study claims that nearly one out of every five menu items underestimates by at least 100 calories, with some major chains like Boston Market and Chipotle missing the mark on some items by more than 200 calories. [More]
Science Confirms In-N-Out Burger Is The Best And McDonald's The Worst
By 6.30.11
Almost a year ago, our survey-loving siblings at Consumer Reports asked several thousand readers to rate burgers from 18 burger chains and to no one’s surprise, McDonald’s came in dead last. Not satisfied with merely finding the best and worst beef-on-a-bun, CR decided to go for the super-sized option, rating 53 restaurants in five categories to find which ones provide the best food, service and value to customers. [More]
Taco Bell CEO: If Chipotle Is BMW, We're Hyundai
By 6.7.11
Curiously Australian Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed has no delusions about the product his company sells. Not that he thinks it’s bad food, but that that, well… you often get what you pay for when you buy an $.89 taco. And Creed doesn’t really worry about competing with Chipotle. [More]
This Chipotle Gift Card Is Kinda Chuckle-Worthy
By 11.30.10
You can say what you want about Chipotle’s food, but whoever put together the legalese on the back of their gift cards has a pretty good sense of humor. [More]
No Free Burritos At Chipotle For Dressing In Foil This Halloween
By 9.30.10
This year instead of a free burrito, showing up to Chipotle on All Hallow’s Eve wrapped in tin foil will only score you a discounted $2 burrito. “It cost us a fortune,” Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief marketing officer told Advertising Age. “And it wasn’t doing a whole heck of a lot for me from a marketing perspective.” Expensive + ineffectual, seems a good reason to stop doing something. [More]
Send Junk Email To Chipotle, Feed Children
By 6.25.10
Here’s an interesting promotion: for every 100,000 junk emails sent to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com, Chipotle will donate $10,000 to The Lunch Box, which will help feed school kids with healthy junk-free recipes for lunch, instead of the usual prison cheese and high fructose corn syrup. [More]
Be Jealous Of The Woman Whose Purse Was Slimed By Chipotle
By 1.14.10
Tanner says Chipotle hooked her up big-time after she bought a burrito bowl in San Francisco only to have the bowl come apart and splattered all over her purse. [More]
Chipotle Says Their Food Does Not Cause Underwear Blood
By 10.9.09
South Park managed to combine the late Billy Mays, the unfortunately still around Ghost Hunters, and the beloved Chipotle chain in their latest episode, with surprising results.
