Chipotle is trying to make life easier for its employees with digital tipping, fast-cooking grills, and streamlining a complicated TikTok menu hack

• Chipotle rolled out changes to its restaurants to make employees' jobs easier, its CEO said.
• The changes include faster-cooking grills, digital tipping, and a TikTok-inspired quesadilla.
• Chipotle has plans to grow its restaurant network to 7,000 in North America.

Life is getting a little easier for Chipotle employees thanks to a series of changes in the company's restaurants, according to its CEO.

The chain unveiled the changes, from faster cooking times for meats to digital tipping, over the last few months. CEO Brian Niccol highlighted them on the company's earnings call on Tuesday. 

One change comes in the form of new grills that cook the protein for Chipotle's menu items. Over the last quarter, the restaurant started using clamshell grills in 10 of its locations, and a Chipotle spokesperson said that the chain is adding the grill to 10 more restaurants to see how it performs.

Jobs working the grill are "one of the hardest positions to train" at the average Chipotle restaurant, Niccol said when an analyst asked about the new grills.

Niccol added that the grills cook food faster and more consistently than the ones they're replacing. "Chicken goes from 12, 13 minutes to 2, 3 minutes, and you get perfect sear, perfect char," he said. 

"It just eliminates any potential bottleneck for our future growth," Niccol said. 

Chipotle also started offering digital tipping at its stores over the last few months "as part of our ongoing effort to enhance our crewmember benefits," Niccol said. Previously, the company relied only on physical tip jars at its stores.

"This will enable our teams to be rewarded for their efforts in preparing delicious food and providing a great experience for our guests," he added. While more restaurants and stores have added digital prompts to tip workers, American consumers are tipping less often, including at fast food restaurants, CNN reported last month.

The Mexican-grill chain also added an item to its menu to meet demand for a TikTok trend and simplify preparation for employees, according to Niccol.

Starting in late 2022, customers starting ordering fajita vegetables as an add-on to one of the chain's quesadillas. Some also ordered Chipotle-Honey Vinaigrette with their quesadillas. The trend was sparked by TikTokers, including Alex Frost and Keith Lee, reviewing the combo.

 

 

Niccol said that Chipotle worked with Frost and Lee to turn the custom order into a regular menu item. The move helped streamline production for employees, who previously had to fill the order as a special request from customers who had seen the videos.

The TikTok-inspired mashup was "outstanding," Niccol said. "During the launch, we nearly doubled our quesadilla business and had two of our top digital sales days of all time," he said.

"The best part is that it's made of all existing ingredients, which limits additional complexity in our restaurants, and we continue to see incremental quesadilla sales because of this launch," Niccol said.

Chipotle has plans to grow its restaurant network to 7,000 stores in North America in the coming years. Currently, it has just under 3,200 stores in the US. 

Besides traditional restaurants, the chain has been opening special locations and windows, called Chipotlanes, that focus on filling online orders. Digital sales remain a key part of Chipotle's strategy, despite a decline in orders from the early months of the pandemic.

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