Would You Like A Virtual Burrito Or Bowl?

How Chipotle tapped into the metaverse to treat their customers this past Halloween.

Would you believe me if I said in high school I almost made my yearbook quote “Should I get a burrito or a bowl?”. Luckily my mom didn’t approve and my final quote was “What’s meant to be will always find its way.” My obsession with Chipotle was (and is currently) real.

Chipotle is a unique fast food brand for many reasons. Despite a few nasty PR bumps along the road, they’ve managed to regain consumer trust and over the last few years have been at the forefront of digital innovations. Last year they opened their very first digital kitchen after seeing digital sales tripling year over year the prior quarter. As they continued to invest in ways to enhance their customers’ digital dining experience, earlier this year they invested in autonomous delivery vehicle provider Nuro which is typically used to deliver everyday consumer goods. To top it all off they enhanced their mobile experience by rolling out Pepper, a concierge bot for the Facebook Messenger app. Pepper asks for the customer’s location to find the closest Chipotle restaurant. Next, the customer will be guided through the ordering experience, which mirrors the in-restaurant process, allowing fans to completely customize meals including ingredient quantities and sides. Customers will also have the option to use natural language to describe their order to Pepper.

You might be asking yourself, how can they possibly take this to the next level?! The answer is tapping into the world of virtual reality with the help of Roblox.

Chipotle and Roblox

Chipotle celebrates Halloween every year by offering customers a “Boorito’’ deal. Prior to 2020, if you showed up to Chipotle in costume on Halloween you would get a free entree, however they made it a digital only deal following the pandemic after seeing a rise in digital sales. This past Halloween, when purchasing from the app and entering the code “BOORITO” you got any entree for $5. However, this code wasn’t the only way they treated their customers.

Chipotle Mexican Grill celebrated the 21st year of Boorito, a fan favorite Halloween event, by becoming the first restaurant brand to open a virtual location on Roblox, a global platform bringing millions of people together through shared experiences. In the Chipotle Boorito Maze experience, Chipotle made $1 million in free burritos and offered access to new virtual Halloween costumes and exclusive Roblox items.

What Is Roblox?!

First things first- what is Roblox?! There are very few things that make me feel “old” at 24 years old, but something that I have no knowledge about or experience with is Roblox. I know my little cousins play it, but hearing that I could get a free burrito with it made my ears perk up. Roblox is an online platform and storefront where users go to play games. Roblox is not a game, it is a place where people play games made by other developers. In this sense, it is more similar to PC platform Steam than it is to any online children’s game. What makes Roblox different from anything else in the games industry is that all the games are made by its users. It’s been such a hit that in April 2021, Roblox hit a milestone of 202 million monthly active users (an increase from 146 million in April 2020). With these stats in mind, it makes sense why Chipotle, a brand at the forefront of digital integrations, would take part in it. Below is an explanation of how Chipotle is tapping into the metaverse with Roblox.

How Does This Help Chipotle?

One of Chipotle’s marketing objectives is to leverage their digital presence. They’ve taken steps to achieve this with strong branding across their social platforms (including TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat) and pushing the usage of their mobile app with incentives such as their rewards program. Chipotle launched its loyalty club in 2019 and in two years’ time, they got more than 23 million+ rewards members. With all the data at its fingertips, the burrito chain knows the food preferences of all its members.

In addition, one of their marketing objectives is to stay ahead of the curve- Chipotle understood the power of mobile back in 2008 and introduced an “order on mobile/pick-up in store” model almost a decade ahead of the competition. This ecosystem turned out to be a boon for them in 2020 when people could not visit the restaurants so much.

By stepping to the metaverse, they are surely staying ahead of the curve. This year Facebook decided to change their name to Meta after announcing a shift in their priorities focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses. The growth of Roblox also justifies that this collaboration and future collaborations with the metaverse will help them achieve their marketing objectives.

Why This Caught My Eye

Besides being Chipotle’s #1 fan, this caught my eye because I found this collaboration and decision to step into the metaverse to be very telling of who they are trying to reach and future goals. Roblox is dominated by young users with 67% of users being under the age of 16 and only 14% being over 25 years old. By not only inserting themself into the metaverse but rewarding participating customers, it’s clear that they value customer loyalty and targeting them in environments they care about. With new brands frequently tapping into the metaverse, I believe this is just the beginning. Chipotle is just ahead of the curve, and soon enough other fast food and casual dining restaurants will find their way into the metaverse.

Until the next opportunity to enter a virtual Chipotle, I’ll be enjoying my burrito IRL and cashing in my rewards for free chips and guac.