Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill

In this episode of Talks at GS, Brian Niccol discusses how an early career in marketing has helped shaped his success as Chipotle CEO, why sustainability is at the core of Chipotle’s business and his strategy for the restaurant chain post-pandemic. 

On why sustainability is at the core of Chipotle’s business: “I would say where it shows up the most is the partnerships we have with small farms to big farms on the idea of animal welfare. We want these animals raised humanely. We want these animals fed correctly. We want them taken care of correctly. For two reasons: one, it's better for the farm. It's better for the animal. But also, you end up with much more nutritious and delicious meats. This works. Why not do the right thing for the animal because we know doing the right thing for the animal and the farm ends up with a better product for you, the customer?”

On the future of the global brand: “I definitely know one thing that will be the same will be our purpose around cultivating a better world and our commitment to food within integrity. That will be unchanged… I definitely do think you're going to see a lot of different access modes for Chipotle. You’re going to have these digital-only opportunities; these Chipotlane-only opportunities. And then I also think you're going to see us be able to take our restaurant experience and move it around the world. I don't think this is unique to just the United States. We’ve started a little bit in Europe and Canada, but I do think in Chipotle’s future it is going to be a global company that can cultivate a better world, not just a US company, that's trying to do its part to cultivate a better world.” 

Transcript