Do you want to start a restaurant business by buying Chipotle franchise? If YES, here is how much it cost to open a Chipotle franchise and their requirement. From the very beginning, Chipotle focused on fresh ingredients, even with its 1993 rollout.
Since 1999, it has adopted a corporate culture and an emphasis on premium ingredients that puts the company at odd with McDonald’s, which had acquired 70% of the shares of the company. During a time when McDonald’s was working on a three year restructuring plan, it slowly began divestment of its holdings in Chipotle.
How Much It Cost to Open a Chipotle Franchise
- Financial Requirements
Most of the 1200 Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants are company owned. Only a few franchises were sold in the early days, but since Chipotle’s success in strictly managing their affairs, the franchising plan has been scrapped in favor of complete corporate ownership and control. The Chipotle franchise cost is therefore really just an expansion cost, and is borne by the company directly. So, directly, the chain doesn’t offer franchises.
Steps on How to Get or Open a Chipotle Franchise
Even though Chipotle could likely open many more restaurants, the reason they don’t sell franchise is pretty simple. Chipotle just doesn’t think they need to. In fact, they think that it would be non-beneficial for them to franchise. They have traditionally maintained tight control over their restaurants and franchising would limit their ability to control the operations of all their locations.
From a financial perspective, they also don’t have a pressing need to, with an operating income of nearly a half billion dollars. Chipotle doesn’t franchise now and it doesn’t look like they are going to anytime in the near future. The company seems to be stuck in their model for the past two decades and have been very successful in doing so.
There is no information on how to open a Chipotle Franchise; however the only option available is to take up a career opportunity with the company. There are always openings in every Chipotle Store. You can forward your application to the nearest one to you. As a staff of the company, you can be so fortunate to work your way to the top. This will give you so much exposure about the Chipotle Restaurant Concept and you can then proceed from there to establish your own business.
What You Must Know About Chipotle Franchise
According to experts, the corporate union between Chipotle and McDonald brought opportunism and not mutual support, and it was never a particularly healthy fit for Chipotle, so the divestment, which is normally a process fraught with stress and angst for the company being spun off, was met with a certain degree of welcome by Chipotle’s management group.
This divestment has changed a number of practices in the company, among them how it deals with franchise restaurants; under McDonald’s stewardship, Chipotle was making forays into franchising.
Chipotle restaurant is a specialist in Mexican food. With over 700 stores, only eight are franchises. All the rest are corporate owned. In a broader view, this is because of Chipotle’s Food with Integrity program – if the stores are corporate owned, then the stores can be controlled more readily, including mandatory suppliers of vegetables, chicken, pork and beef.
Chipotle Mexican Grills have established a market niche, one that now has several competitors, like Qdoba, and Pablos, both of which are offering franchise opportunities, albeit with stringent application requirements. Even so, Chipotle remains the market leader in this menu segment, with a great degree of capitalization, and public good will, as more people have embraced their environmentally friendly philosophy in providing food.
Any entrepreneur interested in owning a Chipotle franchise would be well served to make an offer to the company first, and then see if one of the original franchisees are willing to sell – then expect a bidding war with the corporate office.
Whether or not Chipotle will remain receptive of franchise stores in the future is not yet certain, though the current same store sales growth rate of 12.5% makes it likely. Chipotle is known to use more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant, and its use of natural ingredients and sustainable methods bolsters its catchphrase of “Food with Integrity.”
The Chipotle company also strives to become good neighbors, participating in community-building efforts and supporting events in the areas where they open locations. The star of the Chipotle menu is the giant burrito, a mix of Mexican tradition with American tastes. The restaurant also serves burrito bowls, crispy and soft tacos, salads and sides of chips and guacamole.