Shane Life: Chipotle Grill’s Secret Ingredient: Obsession

Sep 16, 2010
23 notes

Chipotle Grill’s Secret Ingredient: Obsession

shaunbwilson:

Two years ago, [Chipotle CEO Steve Ells] was a man who worried about exactly how the oregano in the burrito was chopped. “They were washing it and not drying it –- so when they chopped it, it was clumpy,” he told me. “This is wrong! We need it to be dry and fluffy when you chop it. So we put together a drying procedure.” Could the customer tell the difference, I asked. “Probably not. But if you do a hundred things like this, they can tell the difference,” he said. “In 10 years we will be selling better food because of hundreds of improvements like that.”

*this* is why chipotle wins. *this* is what every single company should be doing. *this* is why apple is apple. details matter. i don’t remember where i got it or who said it, but i am often reminded of the quote, “never underestimate the power of insignificant sins.” sure, that’s good for my spiritual life, but it underscores the influence and meaning of choices whose full consequences we don’t understand and that the end product - be it me or a burrito (delicious, delicious, burrito) - is greater then the sum of its parts.

This article is everything I love about Chipotle. And Apple. Details matter a lot to consumers. And to your bottom line (Chipotle has grown by 88% this year.

ATTENTION COMPETITORS OF CHIPOTLE AND APPLE. If you want to compete with the best, you want to beat the iPhone or Chipotle’s addictive burritos, you gotta care about details.

Small stuff. That’s how you win.

(via hilker)