Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.: Business Analysis

Business Policies, also known as Strategic management, requires students to write a report on a company of our choice. This is a capstone course, and therefore, this paper will demonstrate the culmination of every business class we have taken in our college careers at Bloomsburg University. The company our group has chosen to research is Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. The topics that will be explored in the introduction are what Chipotle is, information about the company, its vision and mission, the company's major products/services, the company’s past year performance, and the strategic management issues the company faces. The topics that will be explored in the second section of the paper are the external and internal environment analyses,

is Steve Ells. Steve opened his first Chipotle restaurant in 1993, with the goal of showing that a fast food restaurant does not have to mean it has to be a “fast food” restaurant experience. Chipotle is headquartered in Denver, Colorado and has locations throughout the United States, Canada, England, France, and Germany (Forbes, 2015). There are about 53,000 employees in the United States, and more than 1,900 locations worldwide (Berfield, 2015). Chipotle hopes to continue to increase its market share and take more customers away from industry leaders such as McDonald’s by focusing on its “differentiated strategy, unique brand, and food philosophy” (Prentice,

They are a private company founded in California and are also in the fast casual dining industry. Similar to Chipotle, they also serve tacos, burritos, and salads. What makes Fresh Enterprises, LLC, unique from Chipotle and its other competitors is the fact that they also do catering for various events (Fresh Enterprises, LLC; Private Company Information, 2016). Taco Bell is another competitor of Chipotle. Both restaurants serve Mexican style food, although in different industries. Taco Bell would be considered an indirect competitor because it is similar to Chipotle, but classified as fast food rather than fast casual dining. Rubio’s Coastal Grill is a Mexican and Seafood themed restaurant. It is a direct competitor because it serves tacos, burritos, salads, and many other items that in the Mexican style but also have a seafood twist (Rubios, 2015). This company is also in the fast casual dining industry. This competitor emphasizes the seafood and Mexican combos for their success. Each competitor has their own unique strategies that helped them achieve their successes. Since Chipotle recently had some issues with foodborne illnesses, their competitors may have benefited from this and their stocks may have risen since the incident. Nevertheless, Chipotle is still one of the top competitors in its