Chipotle's "Secret Sauce"

My favorite restaurant is Chipotle Grill for a couple of reasons. Well, three reasons if you count that they serve beer.

Reason #1: The menu features fresh ingredients and their quality is consistent.

Reason #2: The process is consistent. (I'm beginning to see a pattern...)

The one in Santa Barbara is a very well-oiled "pull" system that immediately engages the customer with a group greeting and smiles. The "tortilla guy" as I'll call the first server is critical in setting the pace, then the rice and benas server, then the meat server, then the sauce and condiment server. Yes, you pay "extra" for the guacamole, but have you ever seen how they make it? FRESH, FRESH, FRESH ingredients in a HUGE metal bowl! Lots of cilantro...

They have an expeditor, between the line and the cashier, that at first glance you think is not necessary, but then you see the beauty of this "traffic cop" that keeps the cashier on task and frees them up to get you specialty drinks from the refrigerator behind the counter to get you to your seat to dig into the yummy food as quickly as possible.

Have you tried the three tacos? Good for a smaller meal. I've never tried the tofu...uh,uh!

If you have trouble deciding on your meal, please don't come here! You will simply hold up the line and piss-off the rest of us behind you.

Now, I am not saying this to be mean, but when the place is "humming" which is most of the time, I can walk in at lunchtime with 20 people ahead of me, and the "pull" is so consistent - the cashier averages a little over two people per minute - that I know that in ten minutes, or less, I will be at the front of the line, and that in another 2-3 minutes, I will be in front of the cashier, who also has this hand twist technique to quickly swipe your credit card without fumbling, regardless of how you hand it to them.

All this being said: This is One-piece flow witha very effective "pull" at it's best.

Compare this to Jersey Mikes' that puts on the "brakes" by sticking a meat slicer right in the middle of the action. This slows their line waaaaaay down and encourages "batching." "We don't need no stinkin' batchin'" (ala: Humphrey Bogart in the movie-Treasure of Sierra Madre" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQL)

So, the "secret sauce" at Chipotle is not mild, medium or hot...It is how well this $Multi-Billion enterprise is run. Congratulations to Steve Ells and his team!