The Quest To Make Your Chipotle Bowl Quick and Recent is Going Excessive-Tech. Here is Why.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) has spent years linking its model with “traditional” culinary strategies. Now it’s folding in state-of-the-art slicers, mechanized avocado peelers and automatic dish meeting.

The burrito chain is seeking to construct up capability with high-tech home equipment and automation, Interim CEO Scott Boatwright mentioned this week. Produce slicers that chop onions, jalapeños and fajita greens will probably be in all of its eating places by the tip of subsequent summer time, Boatwright mentioned. And about 75 high-volume eating places are getting grills that may cook dinner meat twice as quick; they cook dinner the highest and backside of the meat concurrently, a spokesperson mentioned.

The corporate can also be testing a brand new instrument for cooking chips, a robotic that peels and slices avocados and a machine that assembles burrito bowls and salads, Boatwright mentioned.

“I envision important back-of-the-house modifications within the close to future that can drive efficiencies and enhance the consistency of our culinary in our eating places,” Boatwright mentioned, in line with a transcript of the decision made accessible by AlphaSense.

The push to enhance throughput comes as Chipotle noticed comparable-store development of 6% final quarter. Site visitors has been sluggish industry-wide, however Chipotle carried out worse than analysts anticipated. 

Different chains are making related strikes. Sweetgreen (SG) is deploying Infinite Kitchen, which automates many elements of salad and bowl meeting, CFO Mitch Reback mentioned this spring. Jack within the Field (JACK) prolonged a trial of automated fry manufacturing to a second restaurant within the third quarter. And Starbucks (SBUX), now led by a former Chipotle CEO, is putting in instruments that require much less workers involvement in grinding espresso beans, in addition to a system that reduces the necessity for bending and heavy lifting when mixing drinks.

Diners care much less about how meals come collectively than they do about their value and pace, mentioned Jason Kaplan, CEO of JK Consulting, a restaurant advisory agency in New York Metropolis. Whereas a deal with recent prep fueled Chipotle’s success, its prospects will seemingly embrace the know-how, Kaplan mentioned.

“Individuals anticipate a sure pace,” Kaplan mentioned. “The patron of at the moment is even much less affected person than the patron of 10, 15 years in the past.”

Boatwright, who was named Chipotle’s interim CEO in August, mentioned the brand new know-how would assist maintain greens a uniform measurement and preserve consistency throughout eating places. Requested if automation might deter shoppers drawn to Chipotle’s “traditional” strategies, an organization spokesperson mentioned the chain nonetheless makes use of recent elements and true cooking strategies. The improvements make the method extra environment friendly and improve the flavour profile, the spokesperson mentioned.

And on Tuesday’s name, Boatwright mentioned that some concepts the corporate had thought-about — comparable to a central prep kitchen that serves a number of eating places — have thus far been difficult from expense and meals security views.

The improvements launched thus far might largely go unnoticed by shoppers, mentioned Dean Small, founder and managing companion of Synergy Restaurant Consultants, an advisory agency based mostly in California.

“These items are behind the scenes,” Small mentioned, who doesn’t anticipate that they’ll “deter from the visitor expertise.”