Chipotle Begins Food Delivery Service Through Postmates

Chipotle Mexican Grill is now offering food delivery through a partnership signed with Postmates. Postmates is a San Francisco based startup that runs a network of couriers who delivers goods locally. Chipotle’s delivery service is available in 67 select cities, including Washington D.C. and major cities within the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. The delivery cost varies between $4.99 and $7.99 per order, depending on the distance.

Generally, Postmates charges a variable delivery fee based on the distance that was traveled by the courier. However, Postmates’ deal with Chipotle has capped pricing. There are more than 10,000 couriers that work for Postmates to deliver food, groceries and other consumer goods for its users. Founded in 2011, Postmates also announced a collaboration with Starbucks last month starting with a pilot in Seattle in the second half of this year. Chipotle revealed the delivery service during a call with investors this week.

Why did Chipotle sign a deal with Postmates? Chipotle chief marketing and development officer Mark Crumpacker said that the burrito maker saw 30% month-over-month growth since Postmates started delivering Chipotle. According to Re/code, Postmates delivered $500,000 worth of Chipotle orders in Q1 2015 alone — which is before an official deal was formalized. The partnership agreement with Postmates formalizes Chipotle delivery.

“There have been a lot of people that have been delivering Chipotle through various services over the years and we’ve tried in a lot of cases to shut them down,” said Crumpacker during the call with investors via The New York Times. “We weren’t sure whether the quality was going to be sufficient or whether they were following our rules.”

During Chipotle’s investor call, the company revealed that sales at stores open more than a year were up 10.4% compared to the same quarter a year ago. Sales were up 20.9% at $1.09 billion. About 6.6% of sales, including catering and Burritos by the Box , were through online orders. At the beginning of the year, Chipotle broke off a partnership with a large pork supplier because it did not meet humane standards. This caused Chipotle to have a carnitas shortage. This past winter was harsh and also negatively affected Chipotle's sales. Chipotle has found a new pork supplier and it may be added back to the menu within the next few months. Unfortunately, beef commodity prices are high so Chipotle will likely increase its menu prices on steak and barbacoa later this year.

Chipotle plans to launch an Apple Watch app later today and it will set up a mobile payment option within its ordering apps soon. Chipotle is also going to look into supporting the Apple Pay and Google Wallet mobile payment services.

Chipotle is not the only fast food chain that recently started to offer delivery options. Taco Bell will start testing out a delivery option this year and McDonalds created a service called “McDelivery.” Burger King also launched a delivery service called “BK Delivers.”

Nation’s Restaurants News said Chipotle recently made its website mobile-friendly and that a new marketing campaign called “Collective Beauty” will be launching soon. The campaign will highlight Chipotle’s use of “whole, unprocessed ingredients.” Chipotle emphasizes the usage of responsibly raised meat, organic products and produce grown by local farmers. One of Chipotle’s competitors uses 85 ingredients in a single burrito, whereas Chipotle uses only 68.

What are your thoughts about Chipotle delivery? Let us know in the comments section!