Chipotle Launching Restaurant Concept Taking Exclusively Digital Orders

Chipotle Mexican Grill is planning to open a prototype digital-order-only location in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, before the end of this year. The site, which is designed to serve online orders exclusively, has no indoor seating and a limited number of outdoor seats. Customers can pick up pre-ordered food either by driving through or walking to a pickup window.

The location is a variation on the Chipotlane, a concept the company rolled out nearly four years ago. Chipotlanes are technically drive-thrus, but they don't accept orders on-site. Rather, the concept is a pickup lane where customers who order and pay online can receive their food quickly.

Chipotle was the first restaurant to offer digital-order drive-thru pickup lanes, Chipotle Senior Director of Restaurant Excellence Haris Khan told QSR magazine. But other restaurants, including McDonald's, are planning to offer such lanes in the near future.

Most new Chipotle locations include Chipotlanes, and the company reports that new restaurants featuring the lanes open with about 15% higher sales compared to those without Chipotlanes opened during the same period. There are about 300 Chipotles with Chipotlanes out of about 3,000 total restaurants, and the company has reconfigured a dozen locations to include the lanes.

The company didn't say how many other digital kitchens it plans, nor did it provide a timetable for opening more of them. Still, it has seen considerable expansion in its digital offerings recently.

Digital sales for the brand grew 8.6% year-over-year during Q3 and now represent 42.8% of total sales for the company. During the third quarter, the brand opened 41 new restaurants, including 36 with a Chipotlane.

“Digital is proving to be sticky, as it's a frictionless and convenient experience that has been aided by continuous technology investments,” Chipotle Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said during the company's most recent earnings call in October. “As a result of the pandemic, many new consumers were introduced to Chipotle via our digital channels and are now using us for alternative occasions.”