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Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head
- Overtonwindow 9y agoPaywall
- kriffo 9y agoBecause they're both burritos
- tyingq 9y agoI'm sure the Taco Bell CEO gets the nuance, but if your expertise is slogging low cost / low quality ingredients...it's not obvious you're the person to solve an issue with a company struggling with high-end intentions, but low-quality results. Ever been to a Chipotle? The warning about pork carnitas is pretty off-putting. They basically say you're rolling the dice based on past performance.
- spike021 9y agoWhat warning about pork carnitas?
- geodel 9y agoThey are dangerously tasty. https://www.chipotle.com/pork-details https://www.chipotle.com/pork-details
- scientician 9y agoThat video is really disturbing. Delivered with a smile! "Yup, all these thousands will surely be slaughtered!" I'm not a vegetarian, but...
- icebraining 9y agoI'm sure you have plenty to choose from if you prefer a little more corporate hypocrisy with your fries.
- jey 9y agoThis one: https://twitter.com/byjayroot/status/809485903051812864 https://twitter.com/byjayroot/status/809485903051812864
- tyingq 9y agoThis is the warning I was talking about.
- geofft 9y agoI'm not sure what you mean with rolling the dice - it sounds to me like they're saying, the suppliers may have given antibiotics to the pigs as specific medical care, but are not just blanket giving every pig antibiotics. (The link says that permitting antibiotics for medical care is the one difference between Chipotle UK and US standards, in fact.) Do you expect either lower-quality meat or higher-health-risk meat as a result of this? I don't think I do but maybe I just don't know enough here.
- tyingq 9y agoThe short version in the Twitter screenshot doesn't fully explain the antibiotic issue. And it's the same one you see if you go to the restaurant personally. Given their history with E-coli (bacteria)[1], they need to be more explicit about what they mean. Making people sick nationally, with a bacteria, coupled with short critical quips about antibiotics is confusing. The short warning just read to me as "don't order the pork, you might get sick". Not a great set-up for a good lunch experience. They seem to assume all customers are already educated about their sourcing strategy. [1] https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm470410.htm https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbrea... "the CDC reports a total of 55 people infected with the outbreak strain of STEC (Shiga toxin producing E. coli) O26 from a total of 11 states in the larger outbreak" "Chipotle Mexican Grill closed 43 restaurants in Washington and Oregon in early November 2015 in response to the initial outbreak."
- dillondoyle 9y agoFrom the sources below the warning is to alert consumers that new pork from the UK could have medically necessitated antibiotics use (as in sick pig gets meds to get better, instead of US pigs who ALL get antibiotics to get fatter). That's very far from rolling the dice with a heath risk. It should have been framed and explained better. I personally think that if they can't find meat either they shouldn't sell it (which they did and people got pissed). Or grow your own.
- bane 9y agoTaco Bell has a strong reputation for food safety and menu "innovation" as well as ruthlessly controlling costs and being profitable as a bottom dollar food supplier while operating a "just-in-time" final food product assembly operation. Basically, he's strong in all the areas where Chipotle is perceived of as being weak.
- ROFISH 9y agoBoth serve different combinations of product from a set of few ingredients.
- flossball 9y agoYou can never tell how much it was him or the team under him, but Taco Bell really is winning on novelty, new store design, and online ordering. Now that they are linked with grubhub, they are at peak. Maybe he can at least figure out how to keep the veggies from being a petridish. Here is a hint - subway and most sandwich shops don't keep warm meat next to the veg...
- degenerate 9y agoStep 1: Reduce food quality to cut costs Step 2: Come out with stupid names of rehashed food ideas Step 3: Spend all new profits from low-quality food ideas on HEAVY MARKETING of newer, lower-quality food ideas Step 4: If (Chipotle != Taco Bell) Go to 2 Step 5: Exit
- zeofig 9y agosomeone didn't drink their koolaid this morning....
- IntronExon 9y agoYou’re getting destroyed, but it seems accurate to me. Taco Bell famously repackages the same low quality, low cost ingredients in myriad forms, with intense marketing. Chipotle does something similar, but with higher cost and quality ingredients. Still, the list of what you can work with in a Chipotle is short, very short, and your basic point seems to hold.
- icelancer 9y ago>> Taco Bell famously repackages >> list of what you can work with in a Chipotle is short, very short That's not specific to Taco Bell or Chipotle. That's called Mexican food.
- IntronExon 9y agoIt really isn’t. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_cuisine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_cuisine
- Stratoscope 9y agoReminds me of an old friend. We invited him and his wife out for a nice Italian dinner, and he said "Sorry, I just don't like Italian food. It's nothing but cheese and red sauce!"
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
- joezydeco 9y agoThe article doesn't mention that Taco Bell's kitchen systems are designed to eliminate many weak links in fast food preparation and handling. It doesn't prevent the line worker from sneezing influenza on the burrito, but that's also not how you get e.coli outbreaks. If CMG is looking to get past their previous history of systemic food safety issues, this was probably a good choice.
- slg 9y agoThe article also doesn't mention that Chipotle's first big period of expansion was while it was owned by McDonalds. I have to imagine that McDonalds had an expertise in this area that at least matched Taco Bell if not greatly exceeded them.
- joezydeco 9y agoMcDonald's did indeed help Chipotle get their logistical systems in order. CMG and MCD still share some common suppliers. One area where Chipotle resisted McD's advice was in automating their kitchen systems. One example was the steak. CMG believed hand-marinating and grilling their steaks in-store was a core feature that couldn't be changed. It's also a highly risky procedure when it comes to food safety and cross-contamination. Other things, like the carnitas and barbacoa, were changed to be prepared offsite and shipped to the stores for sous-vide rethermalizing and serving. The steak was also changed to this method after the outbreaks (and long after MCD divested).
- jdavis703 9y agoWhy is it so hard for a fast food chain to avoid cross-contamination vs. other restaurants? Is it because they don't train workers properly?
- ac29 9y agoOther restaurants have food-borne illness problems occasionally too, but when you have thousands of locations it makes national news.
- vidoc 9y agothe guy must know a thing or two about tacos
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- benatkin 9y agoLike with Starbucks, it was the individual employees, their kindness, and their appreciation for the product that made Chipotle special for me during their non-mediocre years. I liked Starbucks the most in about 2006 and Chipotle the most at around 2010. It's too bad they're mediocre now. They still both feel magical occasionally, though. I'm not sure whether they compromised the product or the culture first.
- jrs95 9y agoThe culture may have largely declined by their pay not rising as the pay in fast food did. At least in my area, McDonald’s and Wendy’s pay as much if not more than Chipotle for an entry level position. Edit: I get that this was probably more about the corporate culture as a whole, but working conditions and pay at the store level is equally as important in terms of customer experience in my opinion. 5 years ago when I went to a Chipotle, the workers there seemed happy. Now when I go, they clearly aren’t.
- Clubber 9y agoAbsolutely. Whenever we go to fast food and it inevitably sucks, I always quip, "they aren't paid enough to give a shit, and I don't blame them."
- dawnerd 9y agoLast few times I’ve had chipotle it’s felt like their food was never really warm. Maybe it’s all the cold ingredients being put on top. But swear the rice and meat used to be piping hot years ago.
- hnrodey 9y agoNailed it. It's for this reason that I eat Chipotle in-store only. By the time I make the five minute drive home it's already cold.
- purplezooey 9y agoAnother replacement of a founder with a body from the random CEO pool. Knowledge between companies is almost 0% transferrable.
- ecshafer 9y agoTaco Bell and Chipotle seem pretty similar. Not only are they massive chains of physical locations that would have very similar issues. They are also selling similar food. Mission burritos and Tex Mex (regardless of quality and authenticity) are almost all the same ingredients.
- geofft 9y ago> Knowledge between companies is almost 0% transferrable. Do you have evidence of this? (Does this apply just to the CEO role or to other roles too?)
- bsder 9y agoI don't disagree with your comment about just trading the CEO ... However, operational food safety is VERY transferable and something the Chipotle really needs. Now, whether this CEO actually has that knowledge is a different discussion ...
- maxxxxx 9y agoI have been to Taco Bell only twice and I found the "food" they are selling basically inedible. Definitely wouldn't hire that CEO.
- agjacobson 9y agoLet’s see what he can do with a $10 lunch business model.
- polalavik 9y agoIt's really not that insane. Two garbage egg mcmuffins these days run for $9.50ish which probably costs about 10 cents to make. I'll take the quality of chipotle for $7-10 anyday over the insanely overpriced bullshit the others are pumping out.
- smsm42 9y agoI wonder if that would have any influence on the kind and quality of food. Chipotle seems to have decent fast food - nothing to write home about, but qualifies in my book as an ok if not great meal to eat and get on with the day. OTOH, I ate at Taco Bell exactly once in my life and it was the absolutely worst meal I had anywhere in the US. I wouldn't want Chipotle go there. But maybe borrowing CEO doesn't mean moving the food in the same direction. Hopefully.
- dillondoyle 9y agoFrom a comment below I just learned about the antibiotic free pork supply shortage. That's insane to me there there isn't scale for one restaurant's meat (and I guess Chipotle is by far biggest demand). Chipotle should vertically integrate and grow their own pork without compromising ethics. It's already a shit margin business, maybe going to zero margin on the farming could help.
- zamazingo 9y agoOne grows a pig, not a pork. Once you kill the pig, its name is supposed to change to pork, though why, I never understood quote well.
- mason55 9y agoWhat’s really interesting is how the animal word is Germanic in origin but the food word is Romantic Cow/beef Sheep/mutton Chicken/poultry
- dmm 9y agoThe word pig comes from Old English, a germanic language spoken in England during the early middle ages. After William the Conqueror successfully invaded England in 1066 the language of upper classes of England became Anglo-Norman, an old form of French. Because the English upper classes were speaking Norman many of the culinary terms such as pork, beef, and poultry in modern English come from the Norman language. But because animals would have been raised by common people they retained the Old English derived names such as pig, cow, chicken.
- theandrewbailey 9y agoThe reason is one of the byproducts of the Norman Conquest. The local English people raised cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens, but the nobles (mostly, if not entirely French) were the only ones who could afford to eat meat. They said boeuf, porc, mouton, and pouletrie. https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/32560/why-are-beef-and-pork-and-mutton-used-to-refer-to-the-meat-of-cows-and-pig https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/32560/why-are-beef-a...
- neals 9y agoSlightly off-topic maybe, but I went to Taco Bell for the first time two weeks ago while visiting the beautiful USA. And my god what a terrible food do they make. Why would you go there more then once?
- drb91 9y agoAlcohol. It’s also surprisingly vegetarian friendly compared to, say, your average burger joint. It’s also really cheap. You can eat a days worth of calories for like $10.
- tauntz 9y agoSame question. I've heard so much about Taco Bell from pop culture/internet that I just had to try it. Went to check it out during one of my trips to the US and oh boy.. I was in for a culture shock. I had some kind of a burrito. I don't think I have ever been served food anywhere else that was more disgusting (sorry, I don't know of a more appropriate word to use here). And I'm not picky at all! I'll eat basically anything that you can throw at me - but this.. this was something else. To be honest, I assumed and hoped it was a one-off occurrence because I couldn't imagine anybody going there more than once in their lifetime and they couldn't possibly be in the business if they'd constantly serve that kind of fast food.
- 1123581321 9y agoJust about anything is better than their burritos. Stick to tacos and quesadillas (and French fries, seriously.)
- mrguyorama 9y agoI disagree. A carb wrapped tube of 50% meatlike product and salty, processed cheese sauce, with various other fillings, that you can buy for a dollar, is utterly amazing. I go to taco bell occasionally because $6 gets me an armload of guilty pleasure
- 9y ago