If You Build It, They Will Come

Now that the supply chain is good to go, let’s dive into what it took to get the space ready for opening. ?

In the mid 19th century, Napoléon III tasked Georges Haussmann with updating Paris’s infrastructure to refresh the outdated systems and better accommodate the population increase Paris was experiencing. Over the course of 17 years, Haussmann outfitted Paris with new water and sewer systems, train stations, and, most famously, a network of uniform?boulevards. It’s these boulevards and its buildings that folks most easily identify Paris and where we chose to launch our first location; 18-20 Blvd Montmartre.

With this level of historical significance (aren’t all things historically significant in Paris?), the hoops to jump through to take the space from a warm shell to a fully functioning restaurant were plenty. The developer and project management team we chose had much experience in navigating the immense levels of bureaucracy and permitting needed to pull this off. The team was good at communicating and setting expectations, still, the initial plans needed four revisions for approval for the fa?ade alone and the time it took for the back and forth was concerning. Also, even though the location was right next to a McDonald’s (affectionately known as McDo in France) we had to level up our smoke extraction system so the aromas of freshly cooked food wouldn’t upset the residents that were in the building which we occupied. Call in a kitchen and extraction specialist to assist with that hurdle.

In some of my early interactions with vendors, suppliers, officials, developers, and specialists my requests for specific needs were met with “Non, pas possible”. In the beginning, I took this at face value that it wasn’t possible, and I needed to bend in my “demands”. What I learned, in fact, was that “Non” doesn’t mean “No”, it means that it needs to be discussed and empower the professionals (read: ask for their expert opinion) to help come up with a solution, then dialogue and debate the possible solutions. All of this takes time, and I was keen to get our first restaurant open, running, and feeding Parisians something unlike anything they’ve had before.

Although progress was slow, there was progress, nonetheless. Until the co-CEO’s came to visit. We were about six weeks from opening when the executive team came for a tour of the location, the competitors, and the city to help scout out additional locations.

We had set up “the line”, where customers would begin their order, have their burrito, bowl, or tacos perfectly assembled as they worked their way from Tortilla to Cash, so that it would begin by the front door. The intention was that our new customer base would be able to quickly begin their order once entering the restaurant and the flow would move them into the dining room to enjoy their meal. There would be good ergonomics and flow without crossover of guest traffic. The feedback from the CEO’s was that the line should be flipped 180 degrees so that the line would double back on itself and allow the new customers to see how the line operated and would be educated while waiting in line on the what and how of preparing their lunch or dinner. The logic was sound but now the traffic would triple on itself (those in line, those waiting in line, and those that had their order and heading into the dining room). That was a tough pill to swallow since communication was out that the opening was coming soon. After some healthy debate, the decision was accepted, and we pushed on.

Since the line was custom built for the space, I went back to the drawing board with the kitchen builder to rework the curbing, plumbing, and electrical and data wiring. That change would add eight months to the project timeline even with the urgency (read: panic) in my voice. We had to reduce the timeline. There’s “Non” which ultimately means maybe and there’s “Impossible” which means it’s very unlikely. This fell into the impossible category.

Before the decision to change the direction of the line, I had three future leaders of Chipotle France training in our London locations. We’ll dig deeper into the people aspect of opening our first location but, regardless, having the French team away from their families and homes for such an extended period of time put additional pressure to get this thing across the finish line. I worked closely with Jean pierre De Oliveira on the initial build and set up of the kitchen and we worked feverishly to shorten the time on the adjustments leveraging every favor we could pull in the relationships we had built. Relationships are everything in France and, in the end, we shortened the time from eight months to five. This is when I got my first grey hair.?

With the line direction changed and a beautiful restaurant built, we began training the new team on slicing peppers and onions for the fajita mix, dicing the onions and jalape?os for the guacamole, braising barbacoa and carnitas, and grilling chicken and steak. Not long after, the landlord called.

There were complaints being raised by the tenants in our building that the smell (aroma!) was too strong. The extraction system for the grill ran up five floors of the building to the roof with the intention of being diffused into the wind, the same technique as all other restaurants used to handle their exhaust. Even though our system was run right next to McDo’s with their unmistakable “aromas”, the tenants were not happy with the intrusion, and we had to adapt. Me, Jean, and the landlord worked closely to find a robust, long-term solution to maintain good relations with our neighbors. Jean found an intense scrubbing system which we could piggyback onto the existing extraction and that would reduce emissions by a large degree. The tenants were happier, and we were able to move forward. Still, another grey hair emerged.

I thought it was difficult to get the supply chain put together but building a restaurant in Paris, with no previous experience in navigating the hoops needed to pull it off in France, was on a whole other level. I never once thought it couldn’t be done and it was one of the greatest challenges I’d ever faced, and I would not fail. Being adaptable, flexible, and getting stressed to the max while keeping your eyes on the prize with a positive, can-do attitude took everything I had. To quote Ray Kroc, “None of us is as good as all of us” and it was with the support and determination of everyone involved in the project that we got it across the finish line. Whew!

Great food - check. Great space – check. Next, the third and most important pillar of expanding Chipotle into France, great people. We’ll discuss that in the next instalment of the journey.

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