Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.: Food with Integrity Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Problem Analysis

            The case “Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.: Food with Integrity” discusses the situation of the restaurant where Chipotle has been a part of fast casual segment of the restaurant industry. The founder of the restaurant has been emphasizing on the main facet of the company that is to offer its customers with the element of sustainability in all the products offered at the restaurant.

            In fact, the mission statement of the restaurant has been “Food with Integrity”. Moreover, in spite of the increasing competition in the market, CMG has been able to position itself as a differentiation where it has been offering high quality food and is also committed to offer sustainability where it overcome competition (Ram, 2013)

            The company has been putting in a lot of effort, however, in spite of all the efforts the company has been facing increased competition and rising food costs. In order to overcome this issue, the company has called upon a hedge fund investor who would look for the shorting of the company stock. The major evidence has been the declining stock prices.

            Moreover, the management has also been varying of the fact that the competitors have been gauging in more customers than CMG. In addition, since the company has been a player that has kept higher prices, it has been facing significant competition as the industry’s norm and culture have been changed.

             Today, with the increasing recession, people have actually limited their spending patterns; therefore, the business model of Chipotle Mexican Grill has been incompetent. The consumers have been focused on spending fewer amounts on food prices, which has affected the company quite adversely.

            The peripheral challenges or the slightly minor challenges that have been presented in the case have been the fact that the company share prices have gone down. Although some might argue this to be the main issue where the stock prices go down, however, it is indeed a peripheral issue because the major issue over here is the increasing competition and the decreasing number of customers. The company needs to come up with a solution for the problem where the customers are losing their confidence upon the offerings of CMG (Ram, 2013).

            The above-discussed issues have been the major issues that have been faced by the restaurant in the market. In the past, it has been one of the most successful restaurants, which has been offering high quality and sustainable food.

Situational Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

            The major strength for Chipotle Mexican Grill has been the high quality products it has been offering. The company has always offered high quality food items where it has also offered sustainable products within the market. The mission statement of the company has been “Food with Integrity”. This has been the major success factor for the company.

            The company does not use fridge. All the items that are sold at the restaurant are offered fresh and made to order. Another major success factor for the company has been its well-designed sales and distribution plan where the restaurant has been quite committed to offer its products everywhere.

            The ingredients used by the restaurant are healthier and tastier as compared to the rivals in the market. The non-traditional marketing campaigns carried by the restaurant have also been a major strength for them, which have been attracting customers in large numbers (Hill, 1997),

Weaknesses:

            The major weakness that has been identified in the restaurant has been the high prices it has been offering the products at. The management in spite of losing market share and customer base has been charging higher prices.Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc Food with Integrity Case Solution

            The lack of customer relationship element within the restaurant has also been a weakness for the management. The limited menu offered to the customers as compared to the competitors has also been a weakness for the company. The management has been unable to increase customer base of the increased prices.

Opportunities:

The major opportunity for the restaurant has been to offer low priced products in its menu. This can be a major opportunity because it would increase the customer base. Moreover, by reducing prices, the restaurant would be able to gauge in more sales and revenues. The reason is simple; if the prices shall be reduced the increasing competition can be eliminated. As for now, the sales have been declining, once the prices of the restaurant shall become competitive, the sales shall increase simultaneously....................

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