The Chain Gang

Chipotle Gets Really Ready for Its Close-up

We could see pink foil working for breast cancer awareness too.
We could see pink foil working for breast cancer awareness too. Photo: Courtesy Chipotle

In a few short days, Steve Ells, Chipotle’s founder and co-CEO, will debut as a judge an “investor” on NBC’s new reality show America’s Next Great Restaurant, wherein he — along with Bobby Flay, Lorena Garcia, and Curtis Stone — will pick a contestant to put together a new chain-restaurant concept. (Fingers crossed that this means Cluckin’ Chicken could finally become a reality.) Okay then! In anticipation of the boss’s big bow on network television, we learn today, via press release, that the burrito behemoth is making a few changes.

The burritos are going to be wrapped in gold foil! There are going to be a bunch of new billboards and radio ads! And they’re printing an in-house newspaper called — we’re not kidding — The Gold Burrito Digest. Which is certainly an … um … evocative name for a marketing pamphlet at a fast-food restaurant.

Hey, as long as they keep using actual beef in their burritos, they’ll probably have no trouble gaining on the competition.

Chipotle Gets Really Ready for Its Close-up