To what extent have chipotle’s corporate social responsibility measures helped enhance its brand image and profitability since its e. coli outbreaks in 2015?

Chipotle Mexican Grill, a multinational fast-casual restaurant chain that specializes in Mexican Cuisine, was founded by Steve Ellis in 1993. Since its inception, Chipotle has strived to differentiate itself from its fast-food competitors by being committed to serving ‘food with integrity’ using high-quality and fresh ingredients. This allowed Chipotle to have a competitive advantage against competitors by targeting new demographics who were health conscious but wanted the convenience provided by fast-food restaurants. Over the years, it expanded into over 3000 locations, expanding to international locations in 2008, and broadening its product portfolio to diversify into more niches of the fast-casual food industry. Today, Chipotle is one of the market leaders in the lucrative fast-casual industry that has a market size of $169.92 billion USD as of 2022 and a forecasted industry compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2% between 2023-2031 (Straits Research, 2022). Using the market share formula-

Market Share = , \([ \frac{\text{Company Sales}}{\text{Total Industry Sales}} \times 100\% ]\) Chipotle boasted approximately a 5.08% Company Sales Total Industry Sales × 100% market share in 2022. In 2022, Chipotle earned a record-high annual revenue, earning 8.63 billion USD, with 99.1% coming from food and beverages and 0.9% from delivery services (Chipotle, 2023). Chipotle is placed on Fortune's 2022 list of most admired companies and was ranked among 2022's Top 10 fast-food restaurants in the United States by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (American Customer Satisfaction Index, 2023).

Chipotle has increased its yearly market share and revenue streams since 2006, with the exception of 2016 (Statista, 2022), due to health concerns over foodborne illnesses emerging from its restaurants. Towards Q4 of 2015, cases of foodborne illnesses such as E. coli and emerged from Chipotle restaurants (Maggie Fox, 2015). This continued up until 2018, with 1,100 people affected by foodborne illnesses between 2015 and 2018 as a result of food safety violations (News Desk, 2020). These outbreaks severely tarnished Chipotle’s brand reputation. The public associated Chipotle with food-borne illnesses rather than being a health-conscious alternative to fast food chains. As a result, customer loyalty plummeted, deterring many consumers from purchasing goods at Chipotle.

This essay analyzes how Chipotle’s revenue and profits have recovered since the Ecoli outbreaks due to its integration of corporate social responsibility. More specifically, the essay discusses how Chipotle implemented new food safety and ESG measures to help regain consumer trust and recover its brand image of serving high-quality food. Hence, this essay will discuss- To what extent have Chipotle’s Corporate Social Responsibility measures helped recover its brand image and profitability since its E. coli outbreaks in 2015?

This question was developed after discovering a YouTube video by Company Man titled: Chipotle - The Rise and Fall... And Rise Again, which details the origins, upbringing, downfall, and recovery of Chipotle. By analyzing the reasons behind Chipotle’s growth and how they were able to regain consumer trust, I can gain deeper insight into the strategies Chipotle adopted to save its business from falling.

The research for this extended essay will be using information only from reputable secondary sources. I’ll specifically use well-trusted news articles such as Chipotle says employees can make $100,000 after just 3 years on the job from CNN and Chipotle's Food-Safety Pledge Bumps Stock Price Up 5 Percent by the New York Times to collect reliable qualitative information. Alternatively, statistics will be obtained from Statista to collect quantitative research. Moreover, I’ll primarily use information directly from Chipotle’s website to gain input on the CSR measures they have adopted between 2015 and 2022 to evaluate how it has changed over the years. Although deriving information from Chipotle’s website could have biased statements, Chipotle’s financial accounts will be reliable, which will be essential to collect accurate quantitative data.

The business tool used in this essay includes Caroll's pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility, Forcefield Analysis, Triple Bottom Line Analysis, and Profitability Ratios, which helps analyze the quantitative and qualitative information from my sources. However, since Caroll's Pyramid of CSR is outside the Business Management syllabus, researching it is essential to incorporate it into my essay effectively. The scholarly sources Carroll's Pyramid of CSR: Taking Another Look and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Current Concepts, Research, and Issues are written by Archie Carroll and will be used to assess the influences of CSR. The former source concentrates on the business framework the author created, titled Carroll's Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility. The latter focuses on the different aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility and reviews the concept's evolution and development.

The Forcefield Analysis was selected because it allows me to assess the effectiveness of Chipotle's business decisions at different time periods and generate qualitative-based analysis regarding how it led to its recovery in brand image and profitability. Environmental Social Governance (ESG) helps evaluate Chipotle's commitment to CSR and the impacts of its initiatives on external parties. It was chosen to gain a new perspective on its CSR measures that extend beyond improving its food safety procedures from 2015 onwards. These sources allow me to gain insight into the key concept of my research question and understand how Chipotle's range of CSR policies helped it recover its brand image and profits.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a socially accountable business tool in which businesses consider the impacts of their business operations on third parties, including but not limited to society, employees, and the environment. Engaging in CSR allows businesses to address the environmental and social concerns of their daily operations by following a more ethical business model. Incorporating CSR also improves a company’s brand image by making it appear morally conscious, attracting more customers, and boosting its performance. It links heavily with John Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line theory, which also measures a Business’ contributions to social well-being and environmental friendliness, commonly categorized into the three P’s: people, planet, and prosperity (UW Extended Campus, 2022).

Since 2001, Chipotle has been using its slogan' food with integrity' to create a unique selling point in the fast food industry, becoming one of the pioneers of the fast-casual movement. This is because their brand focuses on quickly serving high-quality and healthy food, similar to conventional fast food restaurants. More specifically, Chipotle emphasizes the lack of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), chemical additives, and artificial ingredients in its products (Chipotle, 2023), which helped differentiate itself in the highly competitive industry of fast food restaurants. In the years leading up to 2015, Chipotle had more lenient food safety measures, such as improper storage of fresh goods, poor preparation of foods, and unqualified employees.

After the 2015 E. coli outbreak, Chipotle established a Food Safety Advisory Council in 2016, which comprises 'industry-leading food safety experts' such as Hal King, the former director of food safety at the fast food chain Chick-fil-A (Chipotle, n.d.). Alongside the Food Safety Advisory Council, Chipotle communicates with its Board of Directors to create effective food safety measures to ensure that Chipotle meets the high-quality standards they are promoting and eliminates food safety risks from recurring. For example, Chipotle altered its food preparation procedures by dipping onions in boiling water before chopping to eliminate germs, marinating raw chicken in sealable bags instead of bowls, and adding cilantro into freshly cooked rice (Candice Choi, 2015).

Moreover, according to Chipotle's website, they operate under the FDA and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system (HACCP) to help them achieve their food safety goals. Chipotle also implemented a Wellness Check policy to prevent contaminated food through employee illness (Chipotle, n.d.). Chipotle also adopted more robust training programs for employees and held food safety retraining programs amid cases of foodborne illnesses to stay committed to their food safety measures and regain consumer trust.

Furthermore, Chipotle's 2016 Sustainability report details Chipotle's improved food safety measures, which follow an intricate 8-step process. This includes providing farmer support and training for local suppliers and employing enhanced restaurant procedures by improving sanitation practices (HACCP system) and new food handling practices to ensure the restaurants don't 'become a source of contamination.' Additionally, they took immediate action against the 2015 food safety incidents by increasing internal and third-party restaurant inspections, which were evaluated twice a month. Chipotle also employed a paid sick leave policy in which employees are compensated for three days each year to reduce contamination of goods from employee illnesses. Chipotle's adherence to robust food safety advancements shows its dedication to food safety.

Chipotle was able to use CSR as a form of crisis management to mitigate its tarnished reputation and demonstrate its commitment to serving high-quality foods. Although these new programs could be costly and restructure its business model, Chipotle’s decision to focus on food safety provides long-term benefits as it addresses customers’ concerns over food safety, which became the main determinant of Chipotle’s decreased sales after 2015.

A force field analysis is a model developed by Kurt Lewin that assesses the benefits and drawbacks of change. I'll use it to evaluate Chipotle’s decision-making by rating each force on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, depending on how much each factor affected Chipotle’s brand image and profitability-

According to Figure 2, the driving forces outweigh the restraining forces, indicating that Chipotle's equitable development is more important than the short-term financial losses of doing so. Chipotle's decision to strengthen its food safety measures helps it identify various food safety violations in its business operations and restructure its practices amid the E. coli outbreak, such as DNA-testing ingredients (Chipotle, 2016), to mitigate food safety risks in the long run. Chipotle's customer-centric approach proved successful as there have not been food poisoning outbreaks in any of their restaurants since a Clostridium Pefrigrens outbreak in July of 2018 (Cindy Marves, 2022).

However, Chipotle investing resources to fund research and development to improve their food safety measures is costly in the short term, which was a major risk for Chipotle at the time as their sales revenue was already decreasing; this could have contributed further to Chipotle's low net profit margins in 2016. Despite this, it's essential for Chipotle to invest and improve its food safety measures to minimize potential future foodborne illness outbreaks and earn back consumer trust as Chipotle rebuilds its reputation of being a health-conscious restaurant that serves "food with integrity." This incentivized customers to purchase goods from Chipotle and acted as a long-term investment for Chipotle to generate greater sales and extend its customer base.

Caroll’s Pyramid of CSR is a framework created by Archie B. Carroll that incorporates the four main aspects of CSR of a business: discretionary, economic, ethical, and legal. Starting with economic responsibility, where businesses are expected to be profitable to satisfy stakeholders and contribute to economic development. This improves the economic well-being of society by providing employment opportunities and funding government spending by paying taxes. The legal aspect establishes laws requiring businesses to comply with fair business practices and follow ethical business conduct. Ethics or ethical responsibility are presumed ethical practices a business should follow beyond compliance with laws. This involves conducting business operations in an ethical manner and doing what society classifies as morally right. Lastly, discretionary, otherwise known as philanthropic responsibilities, focuses on an organization's voluntary contributions to society.

With reference to Figure 2, Chipotle integrates all aspects of Caroll's pyramid of CSR into its business model. However, Chipotle primarily focused on the legal and ethical aspects of the CSR pyramid since the 2015 E. coli outbreak, as its main objective is to ensure that the food they serve is high-quality and safe for consumption. This indicates that Chipotle is dedicated to operating beyond the sole purpose of profit-making, which meets the expectations of stakeholders and society. By adhering to the expected ethical conduct, Chipotle is viewed as a morally conscious company that fosters positive change in the community through its generous wages of $15 an hour (Jordan Valinsky, 2021), community fundraising programs (Chipotle, n.d.), etc. Thus, the public's perception of Chipotle is enhanced, allowing them to build a stronger connection with the community by meeting the presumed responsibilities of an ethical company.

Chipotle’s wide range of CSR initiatives helps people associate Chipotle with positive connotations; for example, students who received funding from Chipotle’s Community Fundraising Program may use word-of-mouth to encourage their family and peers to purchase at Chipotle. Since Chipotle can develop a strong community connection, customers will reciprocate this and may become restaurant regulars, contributing to their increased sales revenue and profits since 2015.

Figure 3 shows that Chipotle's annual revenue streams have gradually increased year-on-year since 2006 up until 2016. This was when the effects of Chipotle's E. coli backlash took place as their target demographic of health-conscious consumers and the general public were concerned about Chipotle's food safety standards. Chipotle's branding and reputation of serving 'food with integrity' were tarnished, creating Chipotle's first financial setback since 2006, with revenue decreasing from 4.5 billion in 2015 to 3.9 billion in 2016. Concerning Chipotle's 2016 annual report, their yearly average restaurant sales dropped from $2.424 million in 2015 to $1.868 million in 2016. However, it recovered shortly after as the upward trend in revenue streams continued since 2017, 2018 surpassing Chipotle's previous best annual revenue streams, earning 4.86 billion dollars because its improved brand image helped expand its sales volume. In 2022, Chipotle's revenue grew to 8.63 billion dollars, a 14.3% increase from the prior year and over double what it earned in 2016. Since the values provided by Statista are rounded to three significant figures, I decided to analyze Chipotle's financial data from its annual reports to calculate its profitability ratios. This helps draw better comparisons of Chipotle’s financial performance between different fiscal years and determine if Chipotle is doing well financially, relative to its performance history.

Sales revenue refers to the income received by a company from selling its goods or services. Chipotle’s sales revenue between 2015 and 2019 will be used to calculate its operating margin and net profit margin to determine its profitability over those five years.

Operating margin measures the profit earned after accounting for variable costs of production, but before interest and tax (Adam Hayes, 2022).

With reference to Figure 5, Chipotle’s operating income and operating margin have fluctuated over the past four years of operations. The impacts of Chipotle’s E.coli controversy had on Chipotle’s financial performance is most notable between 2015 and 2016 as there was a 95.48% decrease in operating income, with the operating margin plummeting from 17.01% in 2015 to 0.89% in 2016. Alternatively, Table 2 highlights Chipotle’s financial recovery as their operating income reached $US 270.794 million in 2017, a 683.39% increase compared to 2016 and rising to approximately $US 1.16 billion in 2019. Moreover, its operating margin significantly increased to 6.05% in 2017 and continued increasing in recent years at 10.79% and 13.56% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. However, since the operating income and operating margin only account for the variable production costs, it is an inaccurate depiction of Chipotle’s profitability.

Since net profit margins account for operating and overhead costs, including interest and taxes, it is more accurate than the operating margin in determining Chipotle’s profitability.

According to figure 6, Chipotle's NPM has decreased from 10.57% to 0.59% between 2015 and 2016, experiencing a 95.18% decrease in year-on-year net profits after it's E.coli controversy. However, in 2017, Chipotle's net profits recovered from $US 22.938 million to $176.253 million, a 668.39% increase from 2016, and its NPM increased to 3.94%. Since Chipotle began introducing tighter food safety measures in 2016 to combat the rise in foodborne illness cases at their restaurants, the increased profits indicate that Chipotle's CSR initiatives were effective in regaining consumer trust as more people began buying from Chipotle again. Although Chipotle's year-on-year NPM fluctuated between 2017-2020, it has been substantially increasing in 2021 and 2022. Moreover, Chipotle’s net profits have also followed an upward trend since 2019, reaching a new peak of approximately $US 899 million in net profits in 2022.

The financial recovery of Chipotle illustrates that its brand image is recovering as it has sustained long-term net profit growth since the 2015 E. coli outbreak. Hence, Chipotle's improvements in its profit margins and net profits since 2016 indicate that the implementation of its CSR initiatives was effective in reshaping consumers' negative perceptions of their food and reasserting itself as a healthier alternative to fast foods in the industry. However, there are limitations to this as the true influence Chipotle's CSR measures have on its profitability is unknown, and external factors such as changes in consumer behavior and market trends could have contributed to the increased profitability of Chipotle. For example, the dips in Chipotle's net profits and NPM in 2020 are most likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the alleviated restrictions in 2021 helped Chipotle's business operations return to pre-pandemic levels, which may have significantly contributed to the 83.54% surge in net profits between 2020 and 2021.

After Chipotle launched its robust food safety programs and pledges to stricter food safety practices in 2015, Times magazine reported that it bumped Chipotle's stock prices by 5% (The Times, 2015). Chipotle began producing sustainability reports in 2017 and incorporated an ESG metric into its business model on March 4, 2021 (Chipotle, n.d.). ESG (Environmental, social, and governance) refers to a set of standards split into three categories that investors use to screen companies (Investopedia, 2023).

Chipotle has an overall ESG rating of 63 out of 100, receiving scores of 51, 79, and 48 in environmental, social, and governance, respectively (Sustainalytics, 2023). This is a relatively good ESG rating and indicates that Chipotle is committed to sustainable and equitable development (Adam Hayes, 2023), which could have led to its strong increases in net profits of 83.54% and 37.69% from 2021 and 2022, respectively, as shown in Table 3. However, ESG rankings are highly subjective and unreliable, which may make it a poor indicator of whether Chipotle is an ethical company. Since ESG is still a relatively new concept, it lacks standardization in terms of criteria and methodologies when assessing a business' ESG status.

The environmental criteria consider the initiatives a company takes to protect the environment and address climate change issues. Chipotle pledges to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5% so far (Chipotle, n.d.). Moreover, in 2017, Chipotle pledged to use 100% compostable, recyclable, or reusable packaging by 2025 through its partnership with the recycling brand Terracycle to reduce its carbon footprint. As of 2022, Chipotle has improved its waste management by diverting 50% of waste from landfills using sustainable cutlery and packaging (Chipotle, n.d.).

Alternatively, the social criteria measure how company operations treat customers, employees, suppliers, and the community. Concerning Chipotle's 2022 materiality matrix in its 2022 sustainability report, Chipotle's major priorities are food safety and quality. Chipotle follows those priorities by strictly sticking to no preservatives or GMOs in their customer supplies and using organic and responsibly sourced meat. Chipotle also began purchasing from local farmers, with 36 million pounds of local produce purchased in 2022 (Chipotle, n.d.). Additionally, Chipotle's 2022 sustainability report suggests that employees are treated well, with 90% of surveyed employees saying that Chipotle is a great place to work (Chipotle, 2022). This helps improve the general public's perception of Chipotle as it shows that they are a human-centered company that focuses on customer and workforce satisfaction, which could encourage customers, most notably socially conscious customers, to purchase Chipotle products over its competitors.

Lastly, the governance factor examines how well a company's decision-making process is and the distribution of rights and responsibilities of different groups. Chipotle incorporates governance into its business operations by evaluating the performance of the senior management team and CEO and remaining transparent to stakeholders to maintain integrity (Chipotle, n.d.). They have also extended its governance structure since its introduction of the Food Safety Advisory Board as it reviews business decisions to ensure that it follows its food safety standards (Chipotle, n.d.).

It can be concluded that the implementation of CSR alongside ESG measures helped Chipotle recover its brand image and profitability after its 2015 E. coli outbreak. Chipotle's strategic decision to directly address the general public's concerns regarding food safety allowed the company to regain consumer trust and loyalty. This is evidenced by the increase in operating margins and net profit margins between 2016 and 2019. From the forcefield analysis, I was able to identify the benefits and drawbacks Chipotle's major food safety-related CSR initiatives have on recovering its brand image and profitability through Figure 1, which highlighted that Chipotle's food safety improvements were effective long-term strategies in helping Chipotle recover from its trough. Moreover, Figure 2 and the ESG analysis highlight the range of CSR initiatives employed by Chipotle that go beyond food-safety measures, which correspond to higher sales revenue and profitability based on the financial data between 2015 and 2022 in Tables 1, 2, and 3. Without the incorporation of CSR and ESG in Chipotle's business model, they most likely wouldn't be able to recover from this event and become even more successful than when the E. coli outbreaks occurred in 2015, as audiences would have maintained a tarnished perception of Chipotle.

The major limitation of this conclusion is that the extent to which these CSR measures contributed to Chipotle's recovery and continued growth is unknown, as other factors could've also helped improve Chipotle's brand image and profitability. Most notably, during the same time frame, Chipotle began adopting mass media marketing strategies such as the "As Real As It Gets" marketing campaign in 2017, which sought to improve transparency regarding the ingredients used in Chipotle to develop consumer trust in their products (Chipotle, n.d.). Moreover, most of the quantitative BMTs were highly subjective, especially Caroll's pyramid of CSR and the Triple Bottom Line analysis, as it was hard to determine the true impacts incorporating all factors of the CSR framework have on improving brand image and profits.

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