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- [00:01]
IBM Representative
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- [00:33]
Scott Boatwright
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news
- [00:39]
Interviewer 1
so, breaking news. We've learned that Chipotle, the Tex Mex chain that is primarily based here in the United States, is set to open its first location in Mexico later this week. It's a substantial expansion that will eventually extend to Mexico City in 2027. And it's part of a broader international expansion. Our relatively new CEO, Scott Boatwright, we had a chance to sit down with SC just a few minutes ago. Here's what he had to say about the opening.
- [01:07]
Scott Boatwright
We believe Mexico is a really important milestone for our great brand as we continue to lean into our global strategy. It's an important country for us. We recognize and admire the culinary heritage that is a part of the Mexican culture and we respect what we believe to be some of the best food in the world. What we're working to do is really tackle this emerging trend that we see around the globe. We also see it down in Mexico, this idea around fresh ingredients being prepared same day, freshly in restaurants. And we believe what we do and what we offer will really resonate with the Mexican community.
- [01:46]
Interviewer 1
I know you've had to have done a lot of market research and there's been a lot of talk about this idea of just how prolific not just Mexican taquerias are, but obviously all of the sort of unauthorized stands. Anyone who's walked around Mexico City, Monterey, these big cities, they are everywhere. And I saw one stat that said that basically if you live in an urban area in Mexico, you don't have to go more than 2 or 300ft before you find a taco cart of some kind or another. Have you factored that into your equation that you're not just competing against established chains, but basically that ma or pot, so to speak, on the street selling food from their carts?
- [02:24]
Scott Boatwright
Yeah, it's a great question. And we have. And so we have partnered with what we believe to be a world class partner in Alcaire in Mexico, who has brought other US Brands into the country. It at a very successful pace of growth with brands like Starbucks and, and Cheesecake Factory. And they've done an incredible job. So we believe the right partnership, strength of the partnership and the opportunity to go into Monterey first and show that, showcase the brand in a really unique way down in San Pedro is really step one. As we continue to move through Monterey and open up and expand. We'll have our sights set on Mexico City next, but we believe what we offer, the idea of the best ingredients in the world prepared fresh in restaurant daily at an abundance and variety and speed, really, which is unmatched at a really competitive price point, will resonate well with the consumers in the market.
- [03:16]
Interviewer 2
Well, Scott, as you mentioned, you know you're starting in Monterey. You have plans to expand into Mexico City a little bit later in terms of timeline here. Talk to us about that cadence, why you chose to start start in Monterey, what sort of boxes that region checked for you?
- [03:32]
Scott Boatwright
Yeah. If you haven't been to Monterey, it's a really beautiful city, really progressive city in Mexico. We love the trade area, we love the consumer profile in that market. Specifically, we plan to expand at a very measured pace to show that the brand can work in really any geography around the world. We think Monterey is a great starting point for us. We'll launch the brand there, move to a number of restaurants and then move to Mexico City where we think we can be hyper successful in a really large metro city that is probably one of the largest cities in the world.
- [04:07]
Interviewer 2
Well, as Romain sort of hinted at, there's a little bit of irony when it comes to the fact that Chipotle Mexican Grill is opening up, expanding into Mexico. And with that in mind, what changes do you have planned for Mexico? When you think about pricing your menus, potentially your ingredients, what are you adapting to Mexico? What are you keeping? The same.
- [04:29]
Scott Boatwright
Yeah. So we plan to use the same menu we have here in the United States. In Mexico, we'll locally source as much of the product we bring over the border today. As it relates to avocados and tomatoes and peppers, we'll locally source those, but it'll be the same menu we've launched in Western Europe, the same menu we launched in in the Middle East. With our partner Al shaya, we have 15 restaurants open in that region today. And the brand really resonates well. And we deliver on standard, the same execution and same menu that we have in United States.
- [05:01]
Interviewer 1
With regards to your partnership with Else, I mean, this is a license model. And I am curious that, given that you pretty much own your stores here in the United States, how do you sort of ensure that, you know, quality control both on the ingredient side, but Also in terms of service is going to be up to the same standard that anyone would expect in any other location.
- [05:25]
Scott Boatwright
Yeah, I think it's really about, when you go into a new market, is really assessing the partner quality. We believe in this idea of a slow, measured approach to global expansion. We're not opening restaurants at a fast pace just for the, for the sake of opening restaurants. We're going to protect the quality of our great brand through the strength of the partnership, management of the supply chain, and then oversight on how we deliver the experience each day to each community in which we serve, whether that's in the Middle East, Latin America and or Southeast Asia, which will open up later this year.
- [05:56]
Interviewer 1
Well, I'm curious, how far do you want to take this international expansion? Obviously you're a relatively mature company, 30 plus years old, primarily here in the U.S. you have the partnership in the Middle east. You reference the partnership and I believe in South Korea and now in Mexico, Latin America. Is this the longer term growth story for Chipotle under Scott Boatwright?
- [06:19]
Scott Boatwright
It is. As we continue to expand in North America, we have a really strong business model here. We have an incredible team that is opening up restaurants at a record pace. We'll open up in North America alone this year, north of 350 restaurants. So we feel like we have a really good foothold here and we understand how we deliver the model and how we deliver on consumer expectations and preferences in a really meaningful and unique way. What we endeavor to do now is as we build Chipotle to a global iconic brand, is really showcase that the brand works in every region of the world. At the heart of the menu, it's really rice, beans, heavy protein and heavy veg prepared fresh, which we know is not unique around the globe. And we're going to, we're going to showcase in a very slow and measured way that we can be successful in every region of the world.
- [07:05]
Interviewer 2
Well, Scott, you mentioned heavy veg and I want to apologize for this next question since we are talking about food, but we have to talk a little bit about cyclosporiasis. I hope I'm saying that right. It's that parasite that's been linked to severe diarrhea. We've seen outbreaks in more than 30 US states and they're usually linked to basil, cilantro, lettuce, things that I'm sure you use a lot at Chipotle. So what have you seen? What do you know about this? Have you seen any notices from your suppliers or anything along those lines?
- [07:35]
Scott Boatwright
Well, first and foremost, the care and safety of our team members and our guests is always our highest priority. We have gone through our supply chain ingredients with our partners to understand if any of our ingredients have been indicated in the Cyclospora outbreak and they haven't to date. We don't expect that they will. But we'll continue to monitor our supply chain and be hypervigilant to ensure we are protecting both our team members and and our guests in our fullest way.
- [08:02]
Interviewer 2
And our thanks again to Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright talking about the chains expansion in to Mexico.
- [08:09]
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