Chipotle Rolls Out First-All Digital Store

If you can’t walk alongside your taco when it’s being made at your local Chipotle, is that restaurant really a Chipotle?

Apparently, yes. 

The corporate-owned chain announced that the first Chipotle Digital Kitchen will open in Highland Falls, New York near the West Point U.S. Military Academy on Saturday, continuing the flurry of store-design innovations that the Newport Beach-based burrito slinger began introducing last December. 

This newest prototype store, according to the press release, is designed for urban markets, and will lack the familiar assembly-line, customer-facing ordering system that has been a hallmark of the chain since it began in 1993, and influenced a generation of customer-friendly QSR store designs.

The Chipotle Digital Kitchen will not have a dining room. Instead customers must place orders in advance, either on its own app or third-party app for either takeout or delivery. A rendering that the company supplied, however, shows what appears to be limited seating in front of a pick-up shelf. Chipotle also said the location will also be fulfilling catering orders as well, the company said in the statement. In short, it’s a ghost kitchen by another name. 

"The Digital Kitchen incorporates innovative features that will complement our rapidly growing digital business, while delivering a convenient and frictionless experience for our guests," said Curt Garner, Chipotles chief technology officer in the statement. "With digital sales tripling year over year last quarter, consumers are demanding more digital access than ever before so we're constantly exploring new ways to enhance the experience for our guests."

Third-party delivery apps have been driving QSRs and fast-casual to rethink how much dedicated dining room space they really need for years. However, the mandated closing of restaurant dining rooms due to the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated that trajectory. 

Chipotle’s early experimenting has allowed it to be well-positioned to make that transition. 

Last December, the company announced it would be experimenting with store designs that allow it to respond to the increase in digital ordering affects its off-premise business. In Chicago, it opened a walk-up window to service digital orders, a smaller dining room, and pick-up shelves in the front of the store. It also opened a  standalone restaurant with a Chipotlane, its name for digital pickup order-only lines, and an endcap unit with a Chipotlane.

The company reported that last quarter digital orders accounted for nearly half of all sales and skyrocketed more than 200%.

Other brands have also launched digital-only concepts, designed around the digital ordering experience. Taco Bell unveiled plans for a concept store called Taco Bell Go Mobile store, which it said will launch in the first quarter of 2021. And Burger King announced an initiative to upgrade its drive-thrus to accommodate digital orders.