When friends and acquaintances mentioned Chipotle, I’d always ask lots of questions to better understand its appeal. During those years Chipotle was becoming very popular for its tasty hormone- and antibiotic-free food and customer-friendly culture, and I loved going there myself. And we made the brand more relevant, creative, and youthful. We launched new menu items, including Doritos Locos Tacos. I came to the marketing and innovation role at Taco Bell with big ambitions, and we executed on three important things: We significantly strengthened our social media and digital marketing. A Plan Takes Shapeīefore joining Taco Bell, in 2011, I’d spent nine years in brand management at Procter & Gamble, studied finance in the MBA program at the University of Chicago, and worked for five years at Pizza Hut. We also ensured that the business not only survived the Covid-19 pandemic but emerged stronger. Only three years later, with help from an amazing team that predated me along with those who came on after my arrival, we’ve joined the Fortune 500, grown our digital sales, launched a rewards program that now has 24 million members, raised our average minimum wage to $15 an hour, and opened 200 new restaurants. Within a few weeks I had connected with the recruiting firm that was handling the CEO search, and we began a conversation about the turnaround I might lead. It just needed to get its business back on track fast. I enjoyed its burritos and bowls, and I knew it still had a great brand with a loyal customer base. Although the two chains compete in different arenas (convenience, low prices, quick service, and a constantly updated menu for Taco Bell fast-casual, fresh-ingredient-focused, customizable offerings for Chipotle), I’d watched Chipotle’s launch and rise with fascination. I had spent the past six-plus years working for Taco Bell, as chief marketing and innovation officer, as president, and then as CEO. When I saw the news, I thought, That’s interesting. In November 2017 it announced that it was looking for a new leader to improve its operations, digital strategy, and marketing. fast-casual Mexican food chain had been facing challenges since 2015, when several of its restaurants were implicated in a series of E. It’s not often you find your next job because of a breaking news alert from the Wall Street Journal, but that’s exactly how my journey to becoming CEO of Chipotle began. Chipotle’s to-go and delivery operations have been a vital source of revenue during the pandemic, with digital sales representing 46.2% of all sales in 2020. And they shifted marketing spend from a defensive, expensive, promotion-focused approach to social media and television, where the message has become much more resonant. They reconfigured the restaurants to allow for skip-the-line pickup of online orders and created a second “kitchen” to prepare those orders, freeing the regular staff to attend to in-person customers. Niccol and his team focused on strengthening the company’s culinary culture and harnessing the power of digital to enhance its fledgling mobile app. Some workers didn’t seem properly trained. But now he saw that it needed to get its business back on track fast. He had watched Chipotle’s launch and rise with fascination and had enjoyed its burritos and bowls. Niccol was the CEO of Taco Bell before he became the chief executive of Chipotle, in 2018.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |