Chipotle Pushing Produce Consumption Through Food Giveaway
DENVER, CO – Chipotle is offering free food, but there’s a catch.
The restaurant chain is offering a free burrito, bowl, salad or order of tacos from January 27th through February 28th, 2015. It is not as simple as that, however. Customers have to order organic tofu Sofritas on Monday, January 26th at any Chipotle in the U.S. or Canada and then present the receipt on the next visit in the specified time for the free food.
Now, this is obviously great to hear if you are an avid Chipotle consumer like I am, but this is also good news for fresh produce consumption.
As we previously reported, Chipotle aimed to buy and serve more than 20 million pounds of locally grown produce in 2014, a 33% increase over the previous year. The chain increased purchases of locally grown bell peppers, cilantro, red onions, jalapeño peppers, oregano, romaine lettuce and tomatoes.
To increase the amount of locally sourced produce it sells, Chipotle has coordinated purchases with over 45 local farms across the United States so that none will be farther than 350 miles away from the location it is serving.
According to Chipotle, the company’s restaurants use 2 acres of organic cilantro every day as well as 7 million pounds of organic black beans and 1.2 million pounds of organic wheat every year.
This push for Sofritas could also provide a boost to the pepper industry. The dish is made with organic tofu from Hodo Soy that is braised with chipotle chilis and roasted poblanos.
It will certainly be interesting to see if Chipotle will continue the trend of increasing the amount of fresh produce that it buys from farmers and then serves in its restaurants.
