FOOD SERVICE/PREPARED FOODS Chipotle Mexican Grill

LYNNE MILLER

Every year, Chipotle Mexican Grill sends groups of employees to meat production facilities to see how the natural meat and poultry purchased by the company is processed.

“In the last two weeks, we've had 35 of their employees at our plant to learn what we do,” said Thomas Stone, director of marketing for Bell & Evans, the Fredericksburg, Pa.-based natural poultry processor. “They're a cool, progressive company.”

Steve Ells, Chipotle's founder, said he wasn't trying to make a political statement when he began seeking out alternative sources for pork. He just wanted to offer better-tasting burritos to his customers. Ells, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who founded Chipotle in 1993 in Denver, had been dissatisfied for years with the flavor of the meat. After reading about the traditional farming practices followed by Niman Ranch, Ells visited the company's hog farms in Iowa and observed firsthand how the animals got to roam in open pastures and munch on strictly vegetarian feed.

In 2001, Chipotle became a pioneer among restaurant chains when it established a policy to buy pork from small farms that raise hogs humanely and without using antibiotics. Customers appreciated the difference. Chipotle's restaurants started selling twice as many tacos and carnitas, in spite of a $1 retail price increase. Today all pork purchased by the chain is raised naturally, and nearly 60% of the chicken and more than 40% of the beef it buys is raised under similar conditions. Chipotle, which posted 2006 sales of $822.9 million, buys more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant chain in the country.

The policy is a cornerstone of Chipotle's “Food With Integrity” program. Under the philosophy, the company seeks out vendors that follow environmentally sound and animal-friendly practices. This year about 25% of all the beans Chipotle purchases will be organically grown. The chain recently began buying sour cream made from milk that comes from cows that have not received the synthetic growth hormone rBGH.

Ultimately, the chain, which operates more than 600 locations, wants to buy all meat from natural producers, said company spokesman Chris Arnold.

“The challenge is to find supply and suppliers to keep pace with our growth,” Arnold said. “Right now we can't do it, or else we'd be at 100% naturally raised meat across the board.”