Marketing Restaurant Online

How Chipotle has been successful in positioning its brand as a leader in the Restaurant World of Mexican Grill?

Brand Positioning is so important for overall success of the restaurant brand that one should not neglect it but more importantly try to position your restaurant brand by being the leader in trying  “out of the box” marketing ideas to be the number one in the game of brands race.

Mexican Grill, a fast casual restaurant concept is a hot growing trend in the restaurant industry. It is one of the most promising segment as there is a great potential in this market. No wonder lots of restaurant brands are competing for the  maximum share of the pie and the same position and that is  to be the number one. Among the numerous restaurant brands that has entered into the race and that stands out are Chipotle-Mexican Grill, Moes South West Grill and Qdobas. Since Chipotle has longer history in the business and looking at its growth rate, it seems clear that Chipotle is leading the race.

Why even being the second in branding race, it is important to be right behind the competitor and not let them leave you far behind?

Though Moes South West Grill and Qdobas and many other similar concept restaurants are behind Chipotle, the question is who is going to take the second position as in every segment there is number one and number two. Hopefully very close to each other. If you look at the burger world there is McDonalds and Burger King, if you look at the world of coffee there is Starbucks and Caribou Coffee. In most cases the number one and number two position in brands is very close to each other. But it is surprising to see in the world of coffee, Caribou coffee is way far behind. In one of the article that I read in the past, if I am correct it stated that Starbucks create one whole Caribou Coffee corporation in a month or two. What that means is that Starbucks opens that many number of coffee shops in couple of months that Caribou Coffee as a whole company has. So in this case  the Starbucks has left the Caribou very far behind and I don’t know how long will it take Caribou to even come close to Starbucks. The point here is when you are on the game of restaurant brand race, you try to avoid this situation and try to be as close as possible if not right on top of it’s nose poking at them without letting them to crush you.

Why implementing technology to stay ahead is very critical to the overall success of the your restaurant branding?

When I think of technology in brand positioning it reminds me of two company and that is Fedex and UPS. Fedex most probably is considered the number one in the documents shipping business as it is one of the first company to introduce overnight express delivery in the midst of doubtful cynics. Fedex was also the first company to introduce the first shipping tracking system in the world. So it has been positioning its brand as a leader who understands the importance of technology for efficient tracking of all the deliveries and help customers to have more control over their packages tracking and keeping them well informed at a comfort of their own computer or mobile phones. At the same time, UPS was almost 6 months or so behind the technology. Once they realised that they had to catch up with FedEx they worked day and night to finish up the technology and be up to the speed with the technology. Determined and with hard work they managed to atleast come closer to FedEx and in some areas they have far exceeded. The point behind this story is that same principle applies to the restaurant brands too. I would compare Chipotle as FedEx for now. Moes South West Grill and Qdobas like United Parcel Service (UPS). Chipotle has already introduced it’s mobile ordering system on iPhone for its customers which is like Fedex introducing GPS tracking system with its all deliveries. Had UPS not accepted the technology to introduce it’s GPS tracking system to its deliveries though it was 6 months or so behind of FedEx, I don’t know if I would be talking about UPS. May be I would but the story would have been a sad one. But today when we look at these two brands, they are very close in their ranking.  So with this historical example of two brands right infront of us, there is no doubt that implementing technology in your business is very critical to stay ahead in this competitive restaurant market.

Well we will have to wait and see if Moes South West Grill and Qdobas will speed up their technology for mobile ordering systems that is really in demand for the tech savvy customers that have a fast paced life who are not willing to wait even another five minutes waiting in the line to get their burritos. They want to order from their iPhone while they are on their elevator, pay it with credit card online and pick up their food straight at the register counter without waiting in the line. They will show their text confirmation code and cashier verifies the order and voila the customer’s transaction is over within 10-15 seconds. Such demanding the customers have become. If your restaurant can’t keep up with these demands, then they will move on to another brand at a push of a button on their iPhone.  So hopefully Moe’s South West Grill and Qdobas and other restaurant brands that are competing for the same share of the pie will speed up their effort in providing easier and faster way of ordering their food especially during the lunch time by introducing mobile ordering system.