Is Chipotle Considered Fast Food?

There is certainly no denying the popularity of Chipotle. It is one of the most popular restaurant chains in the United States.It has a particularly avid following among Millennials and Gen Z, who like the brand's digital presence and fresh food options. Chipotle offers a highly customizable menu of burrito bowls, tacos, burritos, salad bowls, quesadillas, and more. On top of this, it also has a myriad of service options, including mobile ordering and counter service options, each of which allows customers to dine on the go. 

However, you'd be wrong to mistake Chipotle's convenience for fast food. Though it certainly is convenient, and a great option for diners on the go, Chipotle is actually considered to be a fast casual chain. Distinct from fast food, fast casual restaurants offer quick service blended with a more hospitable dining atmosphere and higher quality of food that melds sit-down with to-go options.  What makes the chain so popular is its ability to fuse a convenient, digital-forward format (it pioneered mobile ordering in 2009 when it introduced its app) with its reputation for freshly prepared ingredients and large portion sizes. That said, there has been an ebb and flow in Chipotle's portions, with the chain moving back to larger portions after some complaint. For years, the chain has led the surge in fast casual dining, a restaurant format that is becoming increasingly popular.

So what's the deal with fast casual dining? It's a relatively new term, coming about in the 1990s, and is generally meant to describe a restaurant that blends fast food with casual dining restaurants. This may seem nebulous and rather ill-defined. And it's true that, at times, the line between fast food and fast casual dining can be fuzzy. But there are some key differences between the two restaurant formats that set the two apart. For starters, fast casual chains often have more seating for dine-in customers, encouraging them to sit down and enjoy their meal in the restaurant. Fast food restaurants, on the other hand, often have limited seating (if any) and an emphasis on to-go, or dine-out options.

Both fast food and fast casual restaurants often offer counter service options, though fast casual restaurants tend to offer more customizable options and ordering styles. Restaurants such as CAVA, Chipotle, and Sweetgreen, for example, let diners pick the components of their meal on the spot, allowing them to choose each ingredient in an assembly line style of ordering. Fast casual restaurants also have a reputation for higher food quality and freshness, featuring lots of veggie options and house-made components (such as Chipotle's iconic guacamole). In terms of price, fast casual dining is known to have a higher price point than fast food, though it is (at least in concept) a step below a casual dining restaurant.

Chipotle is perhaps the most iconic fast casual chain around. It has led the way for app-based ordering, and many other fast casual chains have replicated its assembly line structure in other restaurants. However, in recent years at least, Chipotle has made a few moves to shift its business model closer to fast food chains. One such example is the Chipotlane. First introduced in 2018, the Chipotlane is essentially a drive thru pick-up lane for customers on the go, similar to a typical fast food drive thru. Unlike a fast food drive thru, however, the Chipotlane is only used for picking up mobile and in-app orders, meaning you cannot place a new order in the Chipotlane line. 

In some locations, this lane is an add-on to a full service Chipotle location. However, some locations are only used for the drive thru lane, meaning you cannot order or dine in inside of the building. Rather, it is only used for picking up orders. The increased use of Chipotlanes and the shift away from dine-in service might just signal a pivot from fast casual to full-blown fast food, as the Chipotlane mobile-pickup-only format cuts to a tech-focused, utilitarian model of service that all but blots out the typical restaurant experience. So maybe there will be no more "service with a smile", but at the very least you can rack up some Chipotle points on your app (and maybe even some free guac while you're at it).