I went to Chipotle for the first time in a long while, and I don’t even recall what the hype was to begin with. It’s just not that great anymore. It’s been a while since I’ve been back. Given inflation I’d rather learn how to make my own burrito that’s better than them
The original hype as I understand it was that it was decently flavored food that they gave you plenty of for a reasonable price. Sounded like a regular old local Mexican restaurant to me, but as a national chain.
I only had it after it had peaked and it was fine. Guess it stood out more when it was catching on.
That, and it was seen as relatively healthy for fast food. It was one of the only fast food options at the time where not everything was fried and drowning in saturated fats. Prior to Chipotle, Subway was considered the healthiest fast food chain.
I do think they helped to widen what corporations thought was possible. Kind of what Starbucks did to coffee. Prior to Starbucks, most Americans probably confined themselves to Folgers.
I see similar ideas pop up - Tokyo Joe’s, Noodles & Company, Garbanzos, Illegal Petes.
They might not be everyone’s thing, but at least restaurants geared toward finding a fast, reasonably-priced lunch started to move beyond the burger joint or the subway shop…I think all of these started in Colorado, probably (?) influenced by Chipotle.
The first time I had Chipotle, I was blown away by the amount of food I got. At the time, my brother and I had a philosophy of, “You’re not full until you feel fat.” Yet the first burritos we got from Chipotle, we couldn’t even finish them - they were huge! I was astounded that for the price, we got so much.
Nowadays, it’s nothing like that. The burritos are still good, sure, but it’s sad to think about what a deal it used to be compared to what it’s become today.
Chipotle is a place that sells Mission style burritos, which came from San Francisco. Qdoba was the main national competitor, but there were other national and regional chains out there as well.
Chipotle also wasn’t competing with sit down Mexican restaurants, but burger chains and other fast food options which were in decline by the time these burritos came out.
I went to Chipotle for the first time in a long while, and I don’t even recall what the hype was to begin with. It’s just not that great anymore. It’s been a while since I’ve been back. Given inflation I’d rather learn how to make my own burrito that’s better than them
The original hype as I understand it was that it was decently flavored food that they gave you plenty of for a reasonable price. Sounded like a regular old local Mexican restaurant to me, but as a national chain.
I only had it after it had peaked and it was fine. Guess it stood out more when it was catching on.
That, and it was seen as relatively healthy for fast food. It was one of the only fast food options at the time where not everything was fried and drowning in saturated fats. Prior to Chipotle, Subway was considered the healthiest fast food chain.
I do think they helped to widen what corporations thought was possible. Kind of what Starbucks did to coffee. Prior to Starbucks, most Americans probably confined themselves to Folgers.
I see similar ideas pop up - Tokyo Joe’s, Noodles & Company, Garbanzos, Illegal Petes.
They might not be everyone’s thing, but at least restaurants geared toward finding a fast, reasonably-priced lunch started to move beyond the burger joint or the subway shop…I think all of these started in Colorado, probably (?) influenced by Chipotle.
until the news reported thier bread was even more sugar than a loaf of bread.
The first time I had Chipotle, I was blown away by the amount of food I got. At the time, my brother and I had a philosophy of, “You’re not full until you feel fat.” Yet the first burritos we got from Chipotle, we couldn’t even finish them - they were huge! I was astounded that for the price, we got so much.
Nowadays, it’s nothing like that. The burritos are still good, sure, but it’s sad to think about what a deal it used to be compared to what it’s become today.
Chipotle is a place that sells Mission style burritos, which came from San Francisco. Qdoba was the main national competitor, but there were other national and regional chains out there as well.
Chipotle also wasn’t competing with sit down Mexican restaurants, but burger chains and other fast food options which were in decline by the time these burritos came out.