Chipotle aims to drive convenience and growth with new app

The fast-casual chain grew its footprint by nearly 73% last year.

As it nears reaching 20 restaurants in the UK, Mexican fast-casual chain Chipotle will let convenience drive its innovation through its new app.

The app allows access to personalised offers and gives incentives across its 19 restaurants in Greater London. It also promises to fully deliver the in-restaurant experience by allowing more customisable options for each order.

Jacob Sumner, Director of European Operations at Chipotle UK, said the app is just one of the things the brand has in store to drive traffic and acquire new customers.

What can you tell us about the app?

The new Chipotle UK app helps us increase access and convenience to our Greater London locations in high footfall areas and gives guests at residential sites the opportunity to seamlessly customise their meals and collect on-site. 

The Chipotle UK app is the fastest way for Chipotle guests to get their favourite meals, sides, and drinks. All orders are completely customisable with a few taps.

What were the biggest challenges in replicating the in-restaurant, down-the-line ordering experience in the Chipotle UK app, and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge of replicating the in-restaurant ordering experience on the Chipotle UK app is ensuring our guests can fully customise their meals digitally. The app allows users to build their meals ingredient by ingredient while giving them the option to make any item light, standard, or extra.

From the news about AI and automation in the foodservice industry, can you share your opinion on its future and how it will affect QSRs?

In the U.S., we are testing Autocado, an avocado-processing cobotic (collaborative robot) prototype that cuts, cores, and peels avocados before they are hand mashed to create our signature guacamole.

The prototype is being developed in collaboration with Vebu, a product development company that works with food industry leaders to co-create intelligent automation and technology solutions.

We are working on the latest iteration of Autocado based on direct feedback from our crew members. After we validate the next prototype via our stage-gate process, we will look to move it into a restaurant for additional testing later this year.

Vebu is developing an artificial intelligence and machine learning stack to be connected to all its robotic solutions, where applicable.

The goal is for future iterations of Autocado to use machine learning and sensor fusion to evaluate the quality of the avocados and quantify waste reduction as well as the efficiency of the cutting, coring, and peeling processes.

How has Chipotle performed so far in the UK?

In the past year and a half, we have opened eight new restaurants in the UK, increasing our UK footprint by nearly 73%. Later this summer, we will open our 20th location in Kensington.

We will continue to explore menu innovation in the UK while being guided by our strict Food with Integrity standards. In 2024, we introduced Chicken al Pastor as a limited-time protein option.

What growth plans can we expect in the next five years?

Given the rising popularity of Chipotle in the UK, our expansion in Greater London remains a top priority. We are always looking for new communities to introduce our real ingredients.