Chipotle Franchise Facts
Chipotle is a quick-eating, casual Mexican grill combining the speed, convenience and price of fast food with the quality and atmosphere of a casual sit-down restaurant.
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History
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The first Chipotle Mexican Grill was opened by Steve Ells in Denver in 1993. The second Chipotle opened in 1995, in Colorado also. The first franchised restaurant to open outside of Colorado was in Kansas City in 1998.
Size
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Since 1993, 830 more restaurants have opened. Less than ten of those stores are franchise-owned, with the rest being corporate-owned. The number of Chipotle restaurants is growing by a rate of about 12.5% each year, possibly increasing franchising opportunities in the future.
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Acquisitions
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In 1998, McDonalds invested in Chipotle to help with expansion efforts. McDonalds continued to invest for close to a decade and had acquired close to 70% of all Chipotle shares. More recently, the company began a disinvestment process, slowly selling back shares of the company.
Franchising
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Chipotle Mexican Grill was more open to franchising when McDonalds owned a majority of the company, but Chipotle has been offering less and less franchising opportunities since the disinvestment process. Franchising costs, investments and opportunities are privately determined on an individual basis by the corporate office.
Considerations
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More corporate-owned restaurants allows Chipotle better oversee its restaurants as well as control over value with regards to its "Food with Integrity" program and the supply of high-quality ingredients.
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