Stop Selling and Start Leading

10Strengthen Others

SAMANTHA ASSEMBLES MADE-TO-ORDER DISHES at a Chipotle Mexican Grill. Diners direct every step as she prepares their food. First, they choose a format—burrito, taco, salad, or bowl? Flour or corn tortilla? Crispy or soft? Next the protein—tofu, steak, carnitas, chicken, chorizo, barbacoa, or sofritas? Or some combination? Then the starch and veggies—cilantro-lime brown rice or white rice? Black or pinto beans? Any fajita-style veggies with that? Next, the salsa—mild fresh tomato, or tomatillo red or green chili, or roasted chili-corn salsa, or some blend? Finally, the toppings—lettuce, cheese, sour cream, guacamole?

Every order is unique. Every buyer tells Samantha precisely how to make his or her meal perfect. A little less of this, a little more of that. The dish is completely custom built, with an infinite number of ways to mix-and-match twenty-five ingredients.

Choice and the ability to create exactly what they want contribute greatly to buyers' loyalty to Chipotle. Despite a series of food-borne illness outbreaks in 2008–2009 and again in 2015–2016, fifty-seven new restaurants opened in 2016, comparable-store sales rose 17.8 percent and overall revenue increased 28.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017, and the company launched plans for rapid expansion in Europe.¹ Other restaurant chains have successfully emulated the build-your-own model to give buyers similar control. Subway was the first, and Chipotle upped the game. Now dozens of rapidly growing ...