Trendy Chipotle burritos show how pricing power belongs to the hip

Reuters ^ | July 28, 2014 | Jeffrey Dastin

[Paine in the Neck]

Sheep paying a premium to make sure they’re safely enfolded into the herd.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Increase your prices and your sales will automatically increase! Whodda thunk! I wonder why the capitalists never thought of that when they were running the country and the economy.

[Mr Rogers]

As a spice, I like chipotle. As a food chain, not so much.

[Buckeye McFrog]

A modest price increase after 3 yrs. does not seem unreasonable to most people.

[camle]

kinda like a fool and his money, eh?

[Army Air Corps]

Never had one of their burritos. Then again, I live in a town where you can buy excellent burritos from any number of locally-owned family businesses.

[liberalh8ter]

I've never eaten at Chipotle....I don't support lefties.

[grania]

I try to be a food nazi in my choices. Around here, the line at Chipolte is so long at lunch time it goes outside. They raised their prices some, but got even more nutritional adding a brown rice option and sticking to pure freshly prepared foods. Their meal is large enough for two people to share.

People shop for quality and value. Chipolte's advertising and product emphasize that. Another one with many healthy choices is Panera...another long line at busy times. Ever heard of DeBella's...fresh baked breads, good ingredients and preparation. Yep, crowded.

What's my point? Many people, as they have to think of where to cut back, will absorb a small price increase if there's value and quality.

[Starboard]

“Sheep paying a premium...”

*************
In general, dining out is very expensive. But you’re right, the sheeple enjoy gathering at crowded watering holes and getting fleeced — and then paying a 20% tip on top of that for poor service. Go figure.

[cuban leaf]

We’ve gotten to where we VERY rarely eat at restaurants and find that when we do the food is not only no better, but often worse than what we can prepare ourselves.

And the beef from the last steer we slaughtered is amazing.

[cuban leaf]

I’ve never eaten at Chipotle....I don’t support lefties.

---

I ate at one once in Longbeach Ca. Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t good.

[cuban leaf]

The one thing we do LOVE to eat at restaurants is Wicks or Mellow Mushroom pizza. We make it count, though. We get three meals out of a pizza.

[HamiltonJay]

Fads are great, while they last.... a few years from now we’ll be reading how Chipotle is struggling...

That’s the problem with fads.... Krispy Kreme anyone?

[a fool in paradise]

Hipster douchebags (aka “foodies”) have bought into trends like paying $11 for a hamburger from a food wagon “OMGFOODGASMNOMNOMNOM!”

Low information consumers being played like a fiddle.

[liberalh8ter]

Good to know - At least I’m not missing anything!

[a fool in paradise]

The competitors (like Mission Burrito and Freebirds) have likewise taken the opportunity to push up prices and nix longstanding weekly sales promotions.

It’s easy to maintain market share when they all (through collusion or “chance”) raise their prices at the same time.

[US Navy Vet]

Similar food but BETTER:

http://www.qdoba.com/

[a fool in paradise]

Places like Chipotle often sell to “groups” (co-workers, weekend sports teams, college students, etc.). It’s also easy to “nudge” the pricing if their peers continue to go there for lunch (”What, you aren’t coming?”).

[left that other site]

The “decor” at Chipotle reminds me of the company cafeteria in Orwell’s 1984.