Chipotle CEO remains ‘optimistic’ about testing new menu options

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi sat down with Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol to discuss testing new food options.

Video Transcript

- All right. We're going to bring in Brian Sozzi now, as promised, and talk about what is new at Chipotle. You had a chance to talk to the CEO.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, that's right, Julie. I sat down with Chipotle CEO, Brian Niccol. He's had a lot of product wins, definitely not under the radar, new lifestyle bowls, Keto bowls, better queso. Here's what he told Yahoo Finance might be on his plate next.

BRIAN NICCOL: Yeah. So obviously, one of the other things that was a big hit was carne asada, which was a personal favorite. But we're continuing to experiment. We just launched these new beverages, tractor beverages. And you mentioned the cauliflower rice that we're testing. And we're getting ready to test a brisket, which is just fabulous.

BRIAN SOZZI: Brisket?

BRIAN NICCOL: Yeah. It's got a terrific taste profile. And we've got this chipotle barbecue sauce that goes on it. I think it's spectacular. We got to put it into test. See how consumers react, but I'm pretty optimistic about that one, as well.

BRIAN SOZZI: You heard me there-- a brisket. It definitely surprised me. I don't think you would find brisket that usually takes what 8-10 hours to slow bake, or whatever you do with it. But brisket is coming to Chipotle.

I did ask him this, though. He comes from, obviously, Yum Brands, where he helped rebuild the Taco Bell brand. Is portable food on the way? Are you going to bring your notorious portable food that you had at Taco Bell to Chipotle? I don't think he's there yet.

- Sozzi, speaking of portable food, or things being portable, or pick up, we were just talking in retail about how big curbside has been, in addition to those product wins you guys discussed. And by the way, I agree. They fixed their queso. It's better now. The first queso was not good.

But I recently-- or I guess twice during the pandemic, I've gone and picked up Chipotle. And it seems to me they're doing a very effective, efficient job with the mobile online ordering. Have you talked about that with Niccol? Like many other chains, that seems to be going very well.

BRIAN SOZZI: I'm with you, Dan. You walk into it a Chipotle. The food is easy to find. The bags come sealed. The packaging-- probably some of the best to-go packaging, not related to the pizza space in the fast food industry.

About 61% of their sales the most recent quarter are related to digital. Yes. They're looking to open 6,000 restaurants over the next umpteen years. We talked about that. A lot of those will have Chipotlanes. You'll have a drive-through.

But I think a lot of them will also just simply be smaller. Maybe they don't have a dining room. Maybe they just have a pick-up window. You mobile order your food, pick it up, see you later. Go eat your big, giant burritos on the run.