Where to go for lunch: Taco Bell or Chipotle, Chipotle or Taco Bell?

Well, Taco Bell does offer the “Taco Bell Diet” menu.  I know, I’m laughing too,  but did you know that not only does Chipotle taste really good, the chicken, pork and most of the beef is naturally raised?  By naturally raised, we mean served vegetarian feed and given neither antibiotics nor added-growth hormone.  This standard goes way beyond the USDA’s requirements for “natural” meat, which allows for artificial coloring, artificial ingredients and minimal processing.  Chipotle has shown a commitment to even go a step further by guaranteeing that the all of the animals are raised humanely, a quality that Mega-Farms and Ag-Giants have failed to achieve.

Not to be lost in all of this is the fact that the consumer reaps the benefits of enjoying better tasting food.  Chipotle likes to point to their Charlottesville, Virginia location which made the commitment to buy all of their pork from nearby Polyface Farms. The result, the Charlottesville location sells about 50% more pork carnitas than other locations, evidence that the customers prefer the taste of the local meat.

But in the end, money talks, and Chipotle has shown that you can provide a healthier, more conscientious product and still successfully grow the company  (a flawed argument often provided by Mega-Farms and Ag-Giants).  Chipotle is a publicly traded company that showed a net income of $35 million in the second quarter of 2009, up $24 Million for the same period last year.  Additionally, Chipotle projected it would buy over 60 million pound of naturally raised meat in 2009 which means big dollars for local farmers. The end result continues to be hundreds of growers and farmers benefiting from Chipotle’s commitment, and the consumer enjoying really good food.