Last week came word—on April Fool’s Day, no less, which caused a minor stir as social media doubted the news—that Burger King restaurants will sell meatless Whoppers.
Turned out to be true, yet the earth continued to spin—and a foundation affiliated with Orange County’s second-largest public company Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is working on the next new, new thing in that arena.
Chipotle Cultivate Foundation backs several startups exploring foodie frontiers including one making plant-based seafood.
Both are in Newport Beach though their respective work is separate. The eight participants chosen for the nonprofit’s first Chipotle Aluminaries Project don’t get money and their products may never be in a Chipotle location.
The fast casual chain’s Director of Sustainability Caitlin Leibert said restaurants legally can’t directly benefit from the foundation’s work; its intent is to help companies grow, not incubate future Chipotle products.
Companies chosen for the first year’s effort are there in part because each had proven its concept.
“At the end of this we wanted to make sure we had eight ventures … well on their way to success.”
‘Fish’ Stories
The cohort includes Vermont-based beverage maker Asarasi, which harvests water from maple trees; Austin-based GrubTubs; which turns restaurant food waste into insect-based animal feed; and Sebastapol, Calif.-based Sophie’s Kitchen, which produces plant-based seafood alternatives.
A fourth, Boise, Idaho-based American Ostrich Farms, works to increase consumer consumption of ostrich meat as a leaner, more environmentally friendly alternative to beef.
The Aluminaries Project is cosponsored by Denver-based nonprofit social impact accelerator Uncharted and runs seven months. It kicked off with a week-long boot camp in January.
During discussions at the company’s Newport Center headquarters, Chipotle C-Level execs answered questions and advised participants on data security, delegation, company culture, competitive advantages and other topics.
Chipotle Chief Executive Brian Niccol stressed the important of company values, and staying focused.
“It has been eye opening to get candid feedback and advice from Chipotle’s executive team,” said American Ostrich Farms founder and Chief Executive Alexander McCoy. The ideas will help, “navigate some of the common pitfalls of a rapidly scaling food business.”
Program participants also get coaching from industry leaders such as chef Richard Blais and entrepreneur Kimbal Musk—the former won a Bravo “Top Chef” competition; the latter owns a Colorado-based restaurant chain and is the younger brother of Elon Musk—as well as a year’s supply of free Chipotle and monthly corporate catering.
Kimbal Musk is also currently on Chipotle’s board, though he said last month he’ll step down at the chain’s annual meeting, scheduled for May 21 at Hyatt Regency Newport Beach.
A 2020 cohort will be named this year. Liebert said the work is a “great opportunity for us to help shape the future of food far more than we ever could as just a restaurant company.”
Nearing $20B
That could be big since as restaurant companies go, Chipotle’s no slouch.
When it moved to 610 Newport Center from Denver in September, it vaulted into the top tier of most-valuable local public companies (see list page 21). Its shares were in the $450 range—up 40% to a market cap of $12 billion since it named Niccol chief executive six months earlier, March 5. Shares rose steadily in the next six months as well, to about $705 last week and a market cap approaching $20 billion. That’s up 120% in 13 months.
Chipotle spent the year expanding his senior executive team, launching multiple marketing initiatives tied to food and diet trends and major sports events, among other calendar item, and settling into its new OC digs.
The Busniess Journal reported last month that Chipotle plans to open a stand-alone research and development facility in Irvine later this year.
In February it reported 2018 revenue of $4.9 billion, up nearly 9% year-over-year; same store sales up 4%, earnings per share up 2%, and non-GAAP adjusted EPS up 33%.
Niccol in a statement lauded the chain’s “great operations, relevant marketing … and real ingredients.”
It reports first quarter results April 24.
