How Chipotle Changed American Fast Food Forever

Really? I don't know what the numbers are, but Subway is crazy popular where I am in Central California.
There are a lot of them, and they are all busy.

Chipotle is always crowded, but they have a lot fewer locations.

 

Subway is just awful. Their quality has regressed so much over the last 10 years...

 

La Bamba was a regular after-bar stop in Champaign. The next day, la bomba.

 

Subway still comes up on a lot of lists for top brands and top brand engagement.

 

Yeah, I wasn't talking about the quality of the food necessarily, just the business model (though I enjoy Subway).

In other words, giving Chipotle credit for coming up with the billion-dollar idea of bridging the gap between sit-down and fast-food restaurants --- and marketing itself as a healthy alternative --- is completely incorrect. Subway was doing the same thing on a national basis in the early 1990s.

 

As someone who grew up in South Jersey, I always loathed Subway.
However, after 13 years of living in Central California, I've been worn down. We've got more Subways than Starbucks in the town where I work. Getting a decent sandwich around here is almost impossible anyway.
Subway is close to my office and works with my diet/fitness goals.

I am sad to say I've fallen into the pattern of eating lunch at Subway several times a week.

 

These burritos put Chipotle to shame. Unfortunately, it's a local chain.

www.neatoburrito.com

 

I think you're pretty much 100 percent correct on this point.

 

What Subway is missing, I guess, is the hipster Q-rating. Maybe they should fill all their locations with brushed aluminum and laminated concrete (which Chipotle probably stole from Apple).

 

I just think the food is better at Chipotle.

 

I think trying to equate Chipotle with hipsterism is more than a bit of a stretch.