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While looking through the PDF of cool products I noticed a few things. 1) The products were either very simple and straightforward in there use, meaning that people would buy them for years and years regardless of innovation (i.e. the Bic pen), 2) The product had some kind of interesting and interactive feature that caught the users attention enough to make the purchase (i.e. the draw on lamp and the counting water bottle), or 3) The product would address a multitude of needs, beyond what consumers would normally expect of the product (i.e. the stroller that changes into a walker and then a tricycle, or the bike that can change tires and build for different terrains).
Based on these aspects of “cool” products, I tried to position myself into the perspective of my group’s chosen product/service category. This being the fast-casual food service industry, specifically Chipotle Mexican Grill, and in terms of wise consumption, Chipotle has put themselves in a great position. They are able to address issues of industrial farming, recycling and composting without compromising on price and value of their food. Consequently, anyone who chooses to dine at the restaurants are aligning themselves with the same values, whether they are conscious of it or not. At Chipotle, you don’t have to choose between price and quality or price and social responsibility, because they are one and the same.
CMG has designed their product to be fully reusable. The bottom of the food vessel or container is compostable while the plastic lids are recyclable. This is an example of their great design in product, while company wide the chain has designed their system in recent years to be even cleaner from the top down. By training employees to reduce food waste and reinforce safety standards, and implementing systems for recycling, composting and donations to local food pantries at the end of every day, Chipotle is proactively striving to reduce their contribution to landfills by 50% in 2020. This is a truly innovative company design.
State of the art design in the food industry means clean, whole and fresh foods, cruelty free, non-GMO and small farm/rancher friendly. The experience of eating at Chipotle chains should be and feel seamless with little environmental impact from the food to the reusable containers it comes in. When you eat at Chipotle, you should know that the food you are eating generates minimal pollution in production and that the vessels used to eat are both compostable and recyclable, so that by the time you leave, you shouldn’t leave behind a footprint.
Based on the aforementioned, we can identify a multitude of Ottman’s principles of sustainable design and eco-innovation and strategies for eco-innovation in Chipotle Mexican Grill.
- Innovation at system level – Chipotle has turned the food industry upside down with their top-down approach to minimizing waste in terms of both food and trash. Corporate has implemented a plan to divert 50% of waste from landfills by 2020 through a variety of steps including increased recycling and composting efforts and retraining of staff to decrease food waste in preparation and donating leftovers to local food pantries.
- Develop new materials – in an effort to divert waste, CMG has changed the design of their plastic lids to be recyclable.
- Develop new technologies – we could in a way identify the new recycling and composting methods as new technology, but this is actually a principle that Chipotle could use to increase food usage and decrease the potential for sickness outbreaks in restaurant locations.
- Develop new business models – through the development of their 2020 plan for diversion of wastes, CMG essentially has developed a new business model and they’re continuously working to improve this by retraining employees to reduce food waste as well as test staff quarterly on food safety standards, an issue that has proved economically and socially detrimental in the past. Chipotle is also working to improve the business models of other companies, encouraging them to become more eco-friendly through a five week bootcamp led by industry leaders.
- Restore the environment – another principle that could be improved through the company. Chipotle is definitely striving to reduce waste and improve social responsibility, however, it doesn’t appear in my research that they’re doing anything restorative or have anything restorative in the works.
Since Chipotle is in the food service industry, customers interact with the company in a variety of spaces (“touch points”). These spaces include restaurants, app and website connections. In order to increase customer participation in Chipotle’s 2020 plan for diverting waste, CMG can increase efforts of sustainable design in strategies 3 and 5. An idea might be to use their app technology as well as the restaurant space touch point to increase customers usage of recycling and composting systems through some form of reward and punishment. For example, maybe customers pay a $1.00 environmental fee with every Chipotle purchase, and when they bring back the container to recycle and compost through any Chipotle location, they get their dollar back in the form of either Chipotle credit or cash. Another idea would be to provide customers with a digital punchcard, and every time they bring back their food vessels to sustainably dispose of them, they receive some kind of incentive after a buildup of points. Yet another idea would be for Chipotle to develop reusable containers for customers to bring in for a reduced price. Many of Chipotle’s customers are return customers, visiting locations weekly. There is no need for these customers to be consuming even recyclable products on a weekly basis. For a one time fee and subsequent discounts, customers can purchase a reusable vessel.
Lets get Chipotle!
xoxo Lana