Chipotle
announced its third quarter results for 2022. Total revenue increased 13.7% in what many would consider a challenging year. Here is a direct quote from the press release. ‘Our performance in the third quarter confirms our brand and value proposition remain strong, even during a challenging economic environment’ said Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO, Chipotle.
Chipotlanes are Chipotle restaurants with drive-thru lanes that are designed to help boost online/digital orders. The Chipotlane doesn’t have a menu board. It’s a digital order drive-thru pickup lane where guests who order and pay in advance arrive and get their food from a quick handoff. Restricting Chipotlanes to digital order pick up only strips the friction out of the process of a traditional drive up ordering lane. Is it working? Oh yeah.
Because Chipotle might just be changing how an entire industry interacts with its customers and delivers its food. The fact that Chipotle evolved its restaurant design in recent years only widens this conversation. The brand just debuted a digital-only store in November in Highland Falls, New York. There’s also a Chipotlane-only restaurant, with no dining room that is coming later this year in Ohio.
Future restaurants might have no customer facing storefront, just a solid brand, good food and great delivery. Virtual restaurants technically allow anyone to create and expand a restaurant brand without the costs and hassles of a restaurant location. Here are some of the attributes that a restaurant of the future might embody.No restaurant of the future will be able to survive without online/app ordering. The difference then will be the user experience and the pickup/delivery experience.