Chipotle is testing carside pickup in California as online orders explode
Chipotle is testing carside pickup at 29 California locations.
Digital orders for Chipotle have seen huge growth over the past year.
The chain has largely been a winner throughout the pandemic and has continued opening new locations.
Chipotle announced that it will begin testing carside pickup at 29 California locations, where orders through the Chipotle app will be brought right to customers' cars.
Carside pickup will work similarly to the already available mobile-ordering options, Chipotle says. Customers will order in the app, select "Carside Pickup," and notify the app when they arrive. They will also be able to share the vehicle type and color to make pickup faster.
This is just the latest step in Chipotle's focus on an increasingly digital experience, after the introduction of Chipotlane drive-thrus. The investment is paying off - Chipotle says that one in three new visitors since the pandemic have ordered digitally. In the third quarter of 2020, digital sales tripled and accounted for nearly half of all sales in the quarter.
By early 2019, Chipotle had 10 US Chipotlanes, where orders are exclusively placed digitally and the only customer interaction is receiving their meal, and executives told Insider that they planned to open dozens more while also investing in digital ordering. Now, the brand is investing in building more online-order-only "Chipotlanes" and opening new locations. CEO Brian Niccol said in an earnings call that Chipotle plans to more than double its locations.
Chipotle works on an assembly-line-type model, where customers move down the line of ingredients to choose what they want in a burrito or bowl. Chipotle locations also run a second assembly line behind the scenes, dubbed the "digital make line" in 2019. That section is focused on making mobile and delivery orders, the kind that would make up business at a Chipotlane. With digital sales exploding, Chipotle announced plans to hire 10,000 new employees to handle digital sales this summer.
Here are all the California locations where Chipotle is testing carside pickup:
18951 Brookhurst St, Fountain Valley
10385 S. DE Anza Blvd, Cupertino
324 W El Camino Real #B-3, Sunnyvale
2400 Charleston Rd, Mountain View
1815 S. Bascom Ave, Campbell
775 Cochrane Rd Ste 140, Morgan Hill
975 The Alameda Ste 10, San Jose
2007 Camden Ave Ste 50, San Jose
246 Great Mall Dr. Ste 246, Milpitas
1645 Saratoga Ave Ste 10, San Jose
2675 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
369 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose
4180 N 1st St Unit 60, San Jose
1110 Blossom Hill Rd Ste 30, San Jose
1039 El Monte Ave Ste A, Mountain View
180 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
1095 E Brokaw Rd Ste 70, San Jose
640 Blossom Hill Rd, Los Gatos
2002 El Camino Real, Santa Clara
361 N Capital Ave Ste 30, San Jose
6955 Camino Arroyo Ste 70, Gilroy
2990 E Capitol Expy Ste 40, San Jose
3952 Rivermark Plz, Santa Clara
540 Newhall Dr Ste 10, San Jose
5670 Cottle Rd Ste 30, San Jose
20688 Homestead Rd, Cupertino
1566 Monterey Hwy Ste 10, San Jose
1 S Market St Ste 40, San Jose
3249 Coronado Pl, Santa Clara
Read the original article on Business Insider