Hot concept Chipotle sizzles with cutting-edge Aloha enterprise POS technology

The first thing that new customers notice when they walk into a Chipotle restaurant is the unique architecture and atmosphere, a charming mixture of funky corrugated metal and Aztec-style art on the walls. However, nobody goes there for the atmosphere. People flock to Chipotle for the food: fresh, made-to-order tacos and burritos. Plus, it has an average check of only $7.50 to $8. No wonder this quick-gourmet restaurant is growing so rapidly.

"When I created Chipotle in 1993, I had a very simple idea: offer a simple menu of great food prepared fresh each day, using the same techniques as gourmet restaurants. Then serve the food quickly in a cool atmosphere," said Chipotle CEO and founder Steve Ells. "It was food that I wanted, and thought others would like too. We've never strayed from that original idea."

Ells opened the first Chipotle - a small, 20-seat unit -- in Denver, Colorado. By popular demand, he soon opened a second site just a few miles away. Eight years later, Chipotle now operates 130 units in 18 markets. In fact, the McDonald's Corporation was so impressed with the business that they made a minority investment in the company in 1998 -- the first time that McDonald's had invested in an outside chain. This year, McDonald's quietly expanded its investment to a majority interest.

Taste meets haste
With hungry crowds sometimes lined up to the door, Chipotle clearly needed a point-of-sale system that emphasized speed, as well as reliability. In order to keep line traffic flowing smoothly, Chipotle uses the Aloha QuickService point-of-sale solution, which complements the already simple order-and-pay-at-the-end-of-the-line process. "Aloha helps to keep the line moving at a good pace and makes it simple for our cashiers to ring up each order correctly," said restaurant systems manager Andrea Palumbo. "It is so fast and accurate that it's actually the customers agonizing over which great thing to order that slows the line down now!"

As the first Windows-based point-of-sale software in the industry, Aloha QuickService offers advanced POS functionality, intuitive touch screens, open architecture, multiple revenue center capabilities and much more to meet the needs of a fast-paced, quick-gourmet restaurant like Chipotle. This smooth-running, seamlessly integrated system gives restaurateurs the tools to effectively and efficiently manage their operations.

Designed for a fast-paced restaurant environment, Aloha's simple-to-use, intuitive screens allow store employees to learn the system quickly and easily. In addition to decreasing training time and increasing employee productivity, QuickService's ease-of-use allows the employee to get up to speed with very little stress, which is a bonus in an industry concerned with high turnover.

"Our store managers really love the system's ease-of-use because it means that they can train an employee in only a few hours," said Palumbo. "The employees like it because it's so easy to use and understand. It's just a win-win situation."

The company has been using an Aloha POS system almost since the beginning. "The decision (to go Aloha) was made when Chipotle had no more than two stores," said Palumbo. "Before Aloha, they were using a cash register."

Fast, not fast food
In addition to QuickService, Chipotle also employs Aloha Enterprise.com as its ASP-based enterprise management solutions. All 130 sites are actively polling and reporting on the system. In addition, the company uses the system to track what each restaurant is selling, to record transactions, control cash, get menu mix reports, and do payroll from POS reporting. "Aloha Enterprise.com puts the entire company on the same page," said Palumbo. "Every department benefits in some way from the information we're able to consolidate and analyze with the Aloha solution."

A comprehensive enterprise application, Aloha Enterprise is available in three different variations. The flagship offering, Aloha Enterprise.com is offered as a full-service ASP solution. Aloha Enterprise Professional is a simplified, multi-unit consolidation package designed to operate on a single server on a customer's own network. And Aloha Enterprise Datacenter is a scalable, self-hosted solution with the same capabilities as the flagship offering. All three applications allow restaurateurs to better manage their operations through data consolidation, multi-unit polling, business alerts and other management tools.

"Viewing sales and product mix is key for our regional and market directors, as well as our area managers," said Palumbo. "The accounting department is able to get information that was previously faxed to them from our restaurant manager and we're able to provide timely reporting to our executives. Plus, Aloha Enterprise.com reduces paperwork for our restaurant managers.

"The Reports Scheduler saves us significant time," she adds. "Managers can open the reports they need through their daily e-mail. Getting those figures prior to Aloha Enterprise.com was much more complicated and time-consuming."

Another powerful Enterprise feature that the company values is the current day sales and labor polling. This feature enables Chipotle regional directors, area managers and others to extract up-to-the-minute sales and labor information directly from the POS system.

"Our area managers and market directors have access to information such as sales projections, labor information and overtime alerts," said Palumbo. Access to this kind of real-time data empowers management to make day-to-day mission-critical decisions that benefit the business.

Not only does Aloha's ASP save Chipotle's business team time, it also saves money. "The system saves the company money in general by allowing minimal down-time," she said. "For example, the system runs stand-alone, even if the network connection is not there. And it gives management the ability to see how the restaurant's doing any time from anywhere."

The gourmet restaurant where you eat with your hands
Chipotle also benefits from Aloha QuickService's 100% open architecture, which enables it to run smoothly and efficiently on an extremely wide variety of hardware. "The beauty of Aloha is that it runs on any platform we choose," explained Palumbo. Chipotle currently runs QuickService on Javelin terminals.

In addition to open architecture, installation and training are designed to make things easier for everyone involved. "Our new systems are shipped with Aloha already installed," added Palumbo. "It is an easy process to install and configure." With 60 to 70 new units planned and the possibility of franchise programs being weighed, Chipotle's expansion into new markets, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Cincinnati, seems explosive. However, the folks at Chipotle are determined to maintain their famous commitment to quality.

"We are growing, but rather than just opening one restaurant after another, we concentrate on building the business one burrito at a time," explained Palumbo. "Chipotle is just another great example of how Aloha solutions -- both point-of-sale and ASP-based enterprise management -- are helping our customers to be more efficient and profitable," said Martin Siebert, Aloha's vice president of sales and marketing. "We are excited to be involved with such a successful and rapidly expanding chain."