THE GARLIC Guajillo Steak has already been off the market for a few weeks when Fortune visits the headquarters of Chipotle Mexican Grill in Newport Beach, Calif. But the so-so performance of the entrée is still nagging at CEO Brian Niccol. "It didn't go off the way we had thought it would," Niccol says with a slight shrug.
Chipotle rolls out "LTOS" (limited-time offers) like the steak two or three times a year, hoping they'll bring in new customers and get existing ones to spend more. Niccol, the author of the burrito chain's stunning turnaround since he became CEO in 2018, is an LTO mastermind and until now, he'd had a long winning streak. Chipotle went all out promoting the steak (which gets its name from guajillo chili peppers). It partnered with gaming site Roblox to offer free coupons for the dish in the metaverse and gave early access to members of its huge loyalty program.
But customers didn't warm to the steak the way they did to, say, the beloved brisket LTO of 2021. And the reasons why hint at the challenges that Niccol needs to contend with if he wants Chipotle's next five years to be as successful as the last five.
Higher-than-anticipated inflation meant Chipotle wound up charging more for the dish than some customers would pay, Niccol explains. And in a chain restaurant kitchen where new employees come and go constantly the steak was a challenging dish to consistently prepare well. "The combination of a lot of turnover, and then frankly, the amount of inflation that was going on out there," says the 49-year-old Niccol, meant "it just ended up being a little bit harder to execute."
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April - May 2023 من Fortune US.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April - May 2023 من Fortune US.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Inside the Cult of Costco
The retailer's hundreds of warehouse stores are overstuffed and overwhelming-and that's all by design. We delve into the method behind the madness that turns shoppers into obsessives.
A Disastrous Hack
The health care industry is still recovering from a cyberattack that shut down insurance payments and stole a third of Americans' health data.
The Death of the American Pharmacy
Bartell's, a beloved Seattle drugstore now owned by debt-laden Rite Aid, is closing many of its locations. Its demise is the latest symptom of a national health care crisis that hurts all of us.
The Vigilance of Satya Nadella
Ten years in as CEO, Nadella has turned Microsoft into the world's most valuable company and one of the top players in Al. He's navigated two sweeping tech transformations. His biggest worry is that he won't see the next one coming.
Walmart's Mr. Fix-It
When Doug McMillon became CEO in 2014, Walmart's sales had stagnated, and customers were defecting to Amazon in droves. Over the next 10 years, he built an e-commerce powerhouse-and extended Walmart's ironfisted hold on the Fortune 500's No. 1 spot. Can McMillon and the big-box giant stay on top in a digital age?
A 70-Year Journey in the Fortune 500 Time Machine
The 1955 list, our first-ever ranking of U.S. companies by revenue, reveals a lot about how American business once saw itself. It also shows how dramatically the economy and the list have changed.
TRAVEL BLURRING THE LINES OF FITNESS AND LUXURY AMID THE SCI-FI GLITZ OF DUBAI
GO ON VACATION.
INVEST AVIATION STOCKS ARE A BARGAIN.ARE THEY WORTH THE TURBULENCE?
IN RECENT MONTHS, Boeing's share price has fallen almost as fast as its aircraft parts have tumbled from the sky.
HEALTH THE BEST GAME PLAN FOR YOUR BRAIN AS YOU AGE
SIXTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD founder Marie Jerusalem has never felt more able to adapt to the changing demands of the corporate world. \"My body's not as agile as it used to be, but mentally I'm stronger today than I've probably ever been in my entire career,\" she tells Fortune.
TECH SILICON VALLEY STARTUPS ARE INVADING THE MILITARY MARKET
AT THE END of February 2022-a few days after cofounders Luke Allen and Steven Simoni sold their 90-person restaurant-tech startup to DoorDash― Russia invaded Ukraine.